Alabama-Georgia Draws 10.4M Viewers, Drives Record CFB Season Pace

Alabama’s upset victory over Georgia on Saturday night also produced an upset in the TV ratings.

ABC drew 10.4 million viewers for the SEC clash that saw the No. 17 Crimson Tide beat the No. 5 Bulldogs 24–21 in Athens. That topped a Big Ten matchup featuring two top-10 opponents, as NBC drew 8.5 million viewers for No. 6 Oregon’s 30–24, double-overtime win at No. 3 Penn State. Both games kicked off in the 7:30 p.m. ET TV window.

Alabama-Georgia had a strong lead-in from No. 13 Ole Miss’s 24–19 upset of No. 4 LSU, which drew 7.7 million viewers in the 3:30 p.m. ET window on ABC. ABC continues to be on a record pace this season, averaging 7.1 million viewers per college football broadcast through five weeks, which is the network’s highest mark ever. 

In the noon ET window on Saturday, Notre Dame’s 56–13 rout of Arkansas drew 4.3 million viewers on ABC, narrowly beating out Fox’s broadcast of the much more competitive USC-Illinois game, which averaged 4.11 million viewers as the Fighting Illini beat the Trojans 34–32 on a walk-off field goal.

Fox’s Big Noon Saturday game window is averaging 6.23 million viewers (up 22% over last year’s average through Week 5), buoyed by the record 16.62 million viewers for Texas–Ohio State, which was the most-watched Week 1 college football game ever on any network, and still by far the most-watched game of this season.

Overall, total viewing of college football across all networks is still pacing at a record high, up 19% over last year.