ESPN’s premier presentation of the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six reached multi-year viewership highs and record audience numbers across ESPN platforms. ESPN platforms’ full slate of college football bowls this season averaged 4.6 million viewers across 40 total games, up 5% year-over-year.
- The complete seven-game College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six averaged 15.1 million viewers, the best in five years and fifth highest in the 10-year history of the College Football Playoff, up 12% year-over-year.
- The College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T scored 25 million viewers, with the Michigan/Washington showdown recording the best audience since the 2020 CFP National Championship (Clemson/LSU in Year 6).
- Viewership of Monday night’s matchup was up 45% year-over-year and 11% above 2022. The Wolverines’ first national title in nearly three decades ranks as a top 15 cable telecast all-time and the fourth-best non-NFL sports telecast since 2018.
- The title matchup peaked with 28 million viewers from 9-9:15 p.m. ET.
- The top five local markets for ESPN’s signature MegaCast presentation on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU were as follows:
- Detroit (28.4)
- Seattle-Tacoma (22.1)
- Birmingham (20.4)
- Columbus (20.4)
- Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville (19.2)
- The three-game College Football Playoff was the most-watched in six years (since Year 4) and third best of the CFP era, delivering 23.6 million viewers and 15% year-over-year audience growth across the trio of games.
- The CFP Semifinals drew their best audience in six years and third-highest of the CFP era, propelling ESPN to its fourth most-watched day in history.
- Nearly 10 million viewers watched across both ESPN and ESPN2 in the average minute throughout New Year’s Day.
- The two-game semifinal average was up 4% year-over-year, with the games attracting their highest share of viewing on record.
- The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl reached nearly 50 million viewers, and 36% of total viewers and 52% of P18-49 viewers who were watching TV during the games were tuned in to the Semifinals, a record high share for the semifinals in the 10 years of the CFP era.
- The 2023-24 New Year’s Six averaged 13.5 million viewers, its best audience in five years and fifth highest in the 10-year history of the CFP.
- Viewership was up 5% over the 2022-23 edition and among P18-49 viewers, the six games delivered 4.4 million viewers, up 3% year-over-year.
Game specific highlights:
- College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential: 27.7M
- Most-watched Semifinal since Year 1 and third best of CFP era
- Top non-NFL sports telecast since 2018 and a top 10 telecast in cable history
- Up 28% from early Semifinal last year (TCU/Michigan)
- College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl: 18.7M
- Fourth best Sugar Bowl since 2004
- Capital One Orange Bowl: 10.4M
- Best non-Semifinal Orange Bowl since 2017
- Up 2% from Penn State/Utah in similar window last year
- Most-streamed college football game ever on ESPN+
- Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic: 9.7M
- Best standalone primetime NY6 game since 2016
- Up 12% from Tennessee/Clemson in similar window last year
- 2nd most-streamed college football game ever on ESPN+
- Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: 7.8M
- 3rd most-streamed college football game ever on ESPN+
- Vrbo Fiesta Bowl: 4.7M
- Up +12% from Tulane/USC in similar window last year