The Clemson-Alabama CFP Championship game ended up with 25.3 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews. While that figure is down from 11% from the thrilling Alabama-Georgia game last year, it is flat compared to Clemson-Alabama two years ago. ESPNews did not have a simulcast figure the last three years. Also not included in the 25.3 million viewers this year is 30-40% of the streaming audience or any out-of-home viewership.
|
CFP CHAMPIONSHIP AUDIENCE TREND
|
|
YEAR
|
GAME
|
MEGACAST NETS
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
'19
|
Clemson-Alabama
|
ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPNews
|
25,280
|
|
'18
|
Alabama-Georgia
|
ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU
|
28,443
|
|
'17
|
Clemson-Alabama
|
ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU
|
25,266
|
|
'16
|
Alabama-Clemson
|
ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU
|
26,125
|
|
'15
|
Ohio State-Oregon
|
ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPNews
|
33,922
|
BISON FATIGUE? ESPN2 drew just over 1 million viewers for the FCS Championship on Saturday, as North Dakota State won its seventh title in eight years. The win over Eastern Washington this year was down 34% from 1.5 million viewers on the comparable Saturday last year.
NOTES: FS1 had its first bowling telecast on Sunday, with the PBA HOF Classic drawing 220,000 viewers….The high school football All-American Bowl drew 1.1 million viewers on NBC on Saturday, down from 1.3 million viewers in ’18….Golf Channel drew 508,000 viewers for the final round of the PGA Tour Sentry Tournament of Champions on Sunday (6:00pm ET window). That figure is down from 624,000 viewers last year.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NFC Wild Card: Eagles-Bears |
1/6
|
NBC
|
4:41-7:54pm
|
19.7
|
35,890
|
| NFC Wild Card: Cowboys-Seahawks |
1/5
|
Fox
|
8:16-11:27pm
|
15.9
|
29,377
|
| AFC Wild Card: Chargers-Ravens |
1/6
|
CBS
|
1:06-4:27pm
|
15.4
|
25,376
|
| AFC Wild Card: Colts-Texans |
1/5
|
ABC/
ESPN
|
4:30-7:45pm
|
13.5
|
22,767
|
| Rose Bowl: Ohio State-Washington |
1/1
|
ESPN/
ESPN2
|
5:06-8:44pm
|
n/a
|
16,782
|
| Allstate Sugar Bowl: Texas-Georgia |
1/1
|
ESPN/
ESPN2
|
8:50-11:53pm
|
n/a
|
13,298
|
| "Fox NFL Pregame" |
1/5
|
Fox
|
7:30-8:10pm
|
6.4
|
11,534
|
| PlayStation Fiesta Bowl: LSU-UCF |
1/1
|
ESPN
|
12:57-4:52pm
|
4.7
|
8,471
|
VRBO Citrus Bowl:
Kentucky-Penn State |
1/1
|
ABC
|
1:00-4:30pm
|
4.4
|
7,709
|
| "The NFL Today" |
1/6
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:06pm
|
3.8
|
5,748
|
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl:
Texas A&M-N.C. State |
12/31
|
ESPN
|
7:39-11:00pm
|
2.7
|
5,142
|
| "Football Night in America" |
1/6
|
NBC
|
4:00-4:31pm
|
2.4
|
4,006
|
AutoZone Liberty Bowl:
Oklahoma State-Missouri |
12/31
|
ESPN
|
3:48-7:39pm
|
2.3
|
3,830
|
| Redbox Bowl: Oregon-Michigan State |
12/31
|
Fox
|
3:00-6:30pm
|
2.3
|
3,785
|
| "Postseason NFL Countdown" |
1/5
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:20pm
|
2.3
|
3,595
|
| Outback Bowl: Iowa-Mississippi State |
1/1
|
ESPN2
|
12:00-3:30pm
|
1.8
|
3,256
|
| College basketball: Indiana-Michigan |
1/6
|
CBS
|
4:45-6:45pm
|
1.9
|
2,986
|
Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic:
Bruins-Blackhawks |
1/1
|
NBC
|
1:00-4:00pm
|
1.6
|
2,945
|
| Military Bowl: Cincinnati-Virginia Tech |
12/31
|
ESPN
|
12:00-3:48pm
|
1.7
|
2,663
|
| Hyundai Sun Bowl: Stanford-Pitt |
12/31
|
CBS
|
2:00-5:30pm
|
1.8
|
2,617
|
| NBA: Rockets-Warriors |
1/3
|
TNT
|
10:39pm-1:16am
|
1.5
|
2,392
|
| NBA: Raptors-Spurs |
1/3
|
TNT
|
8:15-10:39pm
|
1.2
|
1,814
|
San Diego County Credit Union
Holiday Bowl: Northwestern-Utah |
12/31
|
FS1
|
7:00-10:50pm
|
0.9
|
1,787
|
| "NFL Championship Chase" |
1/5
|
ABC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,510
|
College basketball:
Michigan State-Ohio State |
1/5
|
Fox
|
12:00-2:15pm
|
0.9
|
1,474
|
| High school football: All-American Bowl |
1/5
|
NBC
|
1:00-4:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,143
|
PGA Tour: Sentry Tournament
of Champions: Third Round |
1/5
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,133
|
| Liga MX: Tijuana-Chivas |
1/5
|
Univision
|
10:00pm-12:06am
|
0.5
|
989
|
| College basketball: St. John's-Georgetown |
1/5
|
CBS
|
1:00-3:30pm
|
0.6
|
945
|
| College basketball: Villanova-Providence |
1/5
|
Fox
|
2:15-4:30pm
|
0.5
|
864
|
| Liga MX: Tigres UANL-Leon |
1/5
|
Univision
|
8:00-10:00pm
|
0.4
|
709
|
| College basketball: Xavier-Marquette |
1/6
|
Fox
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
0.4
|
585
|
| "Road to the CFP: Clemson" |
1/6
|
ABC
|
4:30-5:00pm
|
0.3
|
409
|
| "World of X Games" |
1/6
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.2
|
351
|
| "Road to the CFP: Alabama" |
1/6
|
ABC
|
4:00-4:30pm
|
0.2
|
330
|
