Forget any predictions about TV audiences not being interested in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Sure, the same two teams from the same conference that had played just over a month earlier, but that didn’t seem to keep anyone from tuning in.
ESPN drew an average of 22.6 million viewers to its Megacast coverage of the game, with a peak of over 25 million. That makes Georgia’s win over Alabama the biggest cable broadcast since 2020 and the most-watched non-NFL sporting event in two years.
The game also set audience share records for ESPN. The CFP National Championship Game attracted 29 percent of all TV viewers and 38 percent of all TV viewers between the ages of 18 and 49.
Audiences were down on New Year’s Eve for the semifinal games in the Cotton and Orange Bowls. That had led to speculation that there was fatigue and a lack of interest in another matchup of two Southern teams for a national title.
Based on the ratings for the National Championship Game, the low ratings ESPN drew in the semifinals may have more to do with the date they were played than the teams involved.
