College Football Playoff national title game sees viewership decline

Ohio State University’s 34-23 victory over the University of Notre Dame in Monday night’s College Football Playoff national championship game in Atlanta was the most-watched game of the season. However, it saw a double-digit drop in viewers from last year’s title match.

ESPN announced Wednesday that the Buckeyes’ second national championship in the CFP era averaged 22.1 million viewers. It was the most-watched non-NFL sporting event over the past year, but a 12% drop from the 25 million who tuned in for the University of Michigan’s 34-13 victory over the University of Washington in 2024.

It was the third-lowest audience of the 11 CFP title games, with all three occurring in the past five years. The audience peaked at 26.1 million viewers during the second quarter (8:30-8:45 p.m.) when the game was tied at 7-7.

Since Alabama’s 26-23 overtime victory over Georgia in 2018, the last seven title games have had an average margin of victory of 25.4 points. Ohio State had a 31-7 lead midway through the third quarter before Notre Dame rallied to get within one possession with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Georgia’s 65-7 rout of Texas Christian University in 2023 was the least-viewed title game (17.2 million) followed by Alabama’s 52-24 win over Ohio State in 2021 (18.7 million). The first title game in 2015—the Buckeyes’ 42-20 victory over Oregon—remains the most-watched college football game by viewers in the CFP era according to Nielsen, at 33.9 million.

This was the first year of the 12-team field. The first round averaged 10.6 million viewers and the quarterfinals averaged 16.9 million. The semifinals averaged 19.2 million, a 17% decline from last year. Both semifinal games in 2024 though were played on Jan. 1. Michigan’s OT victory over Alabama in the Rose Bowl drew a bigger audience (27.7 million) than the Wolverines’ win in the title game.

CFP games ended up being nine of the 10 most-viewed this season. Georgia’s OT win over Texas in the SEC championship on ABC/ESPN was sixth at 16.6 million.