The National Championship Game of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff averaged 22.1 million viewers on ESPN platforms as the Ohio State Buckeyes secured a victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The game was the most-viewed non-NFL sporting event over the past year and peaked with 26.1 million viewers during the 8:30 to 8:45 p.m. EST quarter-hour, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.
Moreover, it was the most-watched game within the College Football Playoff, which came after a strong semifinal round that included a record-setting Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. This metric also comes as The Walt Disney Company prepares to commence a new six-year agreement reportedly worth $7.8 billion with the College Football Playoff that begins after next season, which will result in the National Championship Game being broadcast on ABC.
The CFP National Championship Game last season between Michigan and Washington, which aired on January 8, 2024, averaged 25.1 million viewers on ESPN networks, which was the largest audience for the game in four years at the time. Viewership for this season’s Ohio State-Notre Dame contest is down by 12% year-over-year. Yet it is up by 33% compared to the Georgia-TCU game in 2023, which had an average audience of 16.6 million viewers, marking the smallest audience in the history of the game.
The commentary team of play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler, analyst Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporters Holly Rowe and Molly McGrath were on the ESPN broadcast for the seminal matchup. A subsequent broadcast on ESPN2 featured the cast of The Pat McAfee Show, while the MegaCast production also featured Command Center on ESPNU, SkyCast on ESPNEWS and Hometown Radio on the ESPN app. The game was also presented in 4K resolution on Comcast, DIRECTV, Dish Network, Optimum, Sling TV, Verizon and YouTube TV.
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