From CFP to Non-Playoff Bowls, U.S. Audiences Want Even More CFB

Whether it’s the College Football Playoff or lesser bowl games, one thing is again abundantly clear: U.S. audiences still can’t get enough of college football.

The CFP quarterfinals extended what has been a banner postseason for the sport, even amid rising competition for audiences from the NFL, NBA, and other major events. Among the latest viewership results:

• The CFP quarterfinal round on ESPN averaged 19.3 million viewers, up 14% from last year. Through the two rounds of the tournament, the CFP is averaging 14.4 million viewers per game, up 3% from last year, the first season of the current, 12-team format. The quarterfinal viewership strongly reversed a 7% decline during the opening round.
• Indiana’s quarterfinal victory over Alabama, continuing an undefeated season for the Hoosiers, averaged 23.9 million viewers. That figure is the largest for any game in the 12-team CFP era, even surpassing last year’s title game between Ohio State and Notre Dame, and it is larger than 18 of 22 previous CFP semifinals.
• Miami’s quarterfinal win over Ohio State averaged 19 million, while the Ole Miss upset of Georgia averaged 18.7 million—also NFL-type figures—while Oregon’s win over Texas averaged 15.9 million. 
• The CFP totals also follow a set of bowl games outside of the tournament with audience increases. The non-CFP bowls on ESPN, through Dec. 27, were up 13% year over year to a collective average of 2.7 million. Leading the way was the Pop-Tarts Bowl between Georgia Tech and BYU. That game averaged 8.7 million viewers and was the most-watched non-CFP/New Year’s Six bowl game in six years. That total arrived despite the game’s high-profile snub from Notre Dame.

While Nielsen methodology enhancements such as an expansion of out-of-home tabulation and the arrival of the Big Data + Panel measurement process help explain some of the viewership boosts, the latest figures also bolster college football’s argument as the most popular sports entity in the U.S. behind the NFL. 

Collectively, the postseason viewership figures amplify a college football regular season that saw a 2% viewership boost—even when retroactively applying the Big Data + Panel methodology to last season’s games. 

The upcoming CFP semifinals—Miami and Ole Miss on Thursday, and Oregon and Indiana on Friday—will be free from NFL competition, similar to the quarterfinals, as that league’s wild-card round begins Saturday.