Ohio State triumphed over Notre Dame with a score of 34-23 in the College Football Playoff national championship game held on Monday night, making it the most-watched game of the season. Nonetheless, viewership saw a decline compared to the previous year.
According to ESPN’s announcement on Wednesday, the match featuring the Buckeyes marked their second national championship under the College Football Playoff format, averaging 22.1 million viewers. Although this figure stands as the highest audience for a non-NFL sporting event in the last year, it represents a 12% drop from the 25 million who viewed the 2024 championship where Michigan claimed victory over Washington, 34-13.
This championship recorded the third-lowest attendance out of the 11 CFP title games, with the past five years encompassing all three instances of lower viewership. Notably, the peak audience reached 26.1 million during the second quarter (8:30-8:45 p.m. EST) when the score was tied at 7-7.
Since Alabama’s nail-biting 26-23 win in overtime against Georgia in 2018, the average margin of victory in the last seven title games has been 25.4 points. Ohio State led with a 31-7 advantage midway through the third quarter, but Notre Dame made a valiant effort to narrow the gap to one possession with just five minutes left in the game.
In terms of viewership, last year’s contest saw Georgia obliterate TCU by a 65-7 score, marking it as the least-watched title game with an audience of 17.2 million, while Alabama’s 52-24 victory over Ohio State in 2021 attracted 18.7 million viewers. The first-ever title game in 2015, featuring Ohio State’s 42-20 win against Oregon, remains the most-watched college football game in the CFP era, with 33.9 million viewers recorded by Nielsen.
This season also marked the introduction of a 12-team playoff field. The first round of games saw an average of 10.6 million viewers, with the quarterfinals attracting 16.9 million. The semifinal games captured an average audience of 19.2 million, reflecting a 17% drop from the previous year. It’s worth noting that both semifinal contests in 2024 occurred on January 1, with Michigan’s overtime win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl bringing in a more substantial viewership (27.7 million) compared to their performance in the title match.
Overall, the College Football Playoff games dominated this season’s viewership rankings, occupying nine of the top ten most-watched events. Georgia’s overtime victory over Texas in the SEC championship, aired on ABC/ESPN, secured the sixth spot with 16.6 million viewers.
