CFP Quarterfinals Average 16.9M Viewers Despite Sugar Bowl Delay

The first-ever College Football Playoff quarterfinals averaged 16.9 million viewers on ESPN platforms—59% more than the 10.6 million first round—but less than the usual semifinal games before the playoff expansion.

Of the four quarterfinal games, the two most-watched were the Jan. 1 contests. Ohio State’s win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl averaged 21.1 million viewers—the most-watched non-NFL television broadcast since the last CFP championship. Last year’s Rose Bowl, a semifinal match-up between Michigan and Alabama, drew 27.2 million viewers.

The Peach Bowl, a double-overtime win for Texas over Arizona State, drew 17.3 million viewers on New Year’s Day. It’s the most-watched bowl game with a kick-off before 3 p.m. ET. The Sugar Bowl, which was delayed to the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 2 following the deadly attack in New Orleans, averaged 15.8 million viewers in a game that saw Notre Dame defeat Georgia. 

Penn State’s New Year’s Eve win over Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl was the least-watched of the three with 13.8 million viewers. While the Broncos are not the biggest ratings draw, the viewership number further solidifies Dec. 31 as a relatively weak sports day during the holiday season.

The least-watched semifinals games in the CFP era came on Dec. 31—the 2015 Orange Bowl between Clemson and Oklahoma, which drew 15.7 million viewers; and the 2021 Cotton Bowl, which averaged 16.6 million. Semis games played on Dec. 28 (2019) and Dec. 29 (2018) had bigger audiences than games on New Year’s Eve.

Furthermore, this year’s NHL Winter Classic, which was moved to New Year’s Eve for the first time largely due to the expanded CFP, drew less than a million viewers, making it the least-watched iteration of the event.

Semifinals Inbound

It’s worth noting that semifinal games should be expected to draw more viewers than quarterfinal matchups, but there’s no clear comparison in the four-team CFP era. The expanded format pushes the CFP semis outside of the typical holiday season for the first time. But if the NFL playoffs are any indicator—audiences tend to grow deeper in the playoffs in January—the viewership should still grow into the final four of the CFP.