Ahead of its broadcasts within the College Football Playoff, The Walt Disney Company registered strong viewership for its presentation of conference championships across several entities. ABC and ESPN presented the Southeastern Conference championship game amid its first year with media rights for this entity and averaged a combined 16.6 million viewers, marking the third most-watched regular season game across ESPN platforms on record. Moreover, the average viewership accounted for the largest audience of the college football season.
The game peaked at 19.7 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen Media Research, and the matchup was the fourth most-viewed SEC Championship Game on record. The Georgia Bulldogs ended up defeating the Texas Longhorns in overtime by a final score on 22-19, sealing the accolade on a game-winning touchdown by Trevor Etienne. Play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler, analyst Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporters Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge were on the call for the game.
Yet the viewership figure is down compared to last season’s iteration of the SEC Championship Game between Alabama and Georgia, which averaged 17.52 million viewers and an 8.9 rating on CBS. The game was the largest audience for a conference title game since the same two teams faced off in 2008. It was also the final time the SEC on CBS broadcast property took the air under the 15-year contract reportedly worth a total of $825 million.
The Atlantic Coast Conference championship game between the Clemson Tigers and SMU Mustangs averaged 6 million viewers on ABC, down by about 14.7% year-over-year. This matchup peaked with 8.8 million viewers and marked the 20th anniversary of the conference championship game. Even though the game experienced a diminution in its average viewership, it was still the third-most watched iteration of the game since 2015, falling behind last year and 2020. Play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough, analyst Greg McElroy and sideline reporter Molly McGrath called the action, which ended on Clemson kicker Nolan Hauser delivering a game-winning field goal in the waning seconds of regulation.
The final game to air on ABC was the Big 12 Conference championship between the Arizona State Sun Devils and Iowa Hawkeyes. The network secured an average of 6.9 million viewers for the game, which ended in a 45-19 victory for Arizona and the first championship since 2007 for the program. ABC’s broadcast of the game reached a peak of 7.8 million viewers, but it was still down from the Texas-Oklahoma State battle last year by about 12.5%. The game was the lowest average viewership since 2020 when Iowa State faced Oklahoma in a matchup that collected 3.03 million viewers. Play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore, analyst Jesse Palmer and sideline reporter Katie George called the matchup on ABC.
Including the American Athletic Conference championship matchup that aired on Friday night, ABC averaged 8.4 million viewers across its four-game slate. Even though all of the games experienced year-over-year declines outside of the AAC matchup (average of 1.89 million viewers, +18% year-over-year), the average represents the most-watched schedule of games on the network since 2014. ESPN and ABC will present games within all four rounds of the 12-team College Football Playoff, starting on Friday, Dec. 29 when Indiana faces Notre Dame at 8 p.m. EST.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
