In the inaugural year of the 12-team College Football Playoff, the title game featuring two storied programs, the Ohio State Buckeyes and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, garnered an average of just 22.1 million viewers across the Nielsen-rated ESPN networks. This marks it as the fifth least-watched title game since the Bowl Championship Series launched in 1998, according to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch.
Despite this, the game, which aired on various ESPN cable networks but not ABC, was still the most-watched college football game of the season and the most-viewed non-NFL sporting event since last year’s Super Bowl. Interestingly, it’s only the second time in five years that the national championship game has also claimed the title of the season’s most-watched game. The matchup peaked early with 26.1 million viewers during the 8:30 p.m. ET quarter-hour, as Ohio State built a significant lead before Notre Dame made a late-game comeback.
Three of the five least-watched title games on record have occurred in the past five seasons. For context, Georgia’s recent blowout of TCU averaged 17.2 million viewers, while the Alabama-Ohio State matchup in 2021 attracted 19.1 million viewers. Several factors contributed to the lackluster audience this year. Primarily, this season marked the first time that college football extended so late into January. Fans are unaccustomed to tuning in to college football at such a late point in the calendar.
As January progresses, the spotlight naturally shifts to the NFL. Previously, under the four-team format, the title game took place on the Monday immediately after Week 18 of the NFL season. Now, it is scheduled for the Monday following the NFL’s Divisional Round, which features two games on Saturday and two more on Sunday. The total viewing minutes during the Divisional Round can even surpass those of the Super Bowl, potentially leading to football fatigue when viewers consider whether to watch on Monday night.
Furthermore, the competitiveness of the game may have played a role in viewer drop-off. Although Notre Dame’s late-game resurgence made the contest more engaging, many viewers probably tuned out when Ohio State surged to a 31-7 lead. Additionally, Monday coincided with Inauguration Day in the United States, likely drawing the attention of some potential college football viewers towards the day’s significant events instead of the game.
Considering these circumstances, securing a large audience was a considerable challenge for ESPN in the first year of the expanded playoff. Achieving 22.1 million viewers is respectable given the situation. It’s also noteworthy that the expanded playoff format increased viewership throughout the entire playoff, effectively offsetting any declines in title game ratings. As the playoff structure becomes more familiar and the playoff committee contemplates scheduling adjustments, there is a fair expectation of rising viewership in the coming years.
