Expanded College Football Playoff Debut Draws Strong TV Ratings Despite NFL Competition
The first round of the expanded CFP averaged 10.6 million viewers, with prime-time games delivering two of the season's top three college football audiences.
- The inaugural four-game opening round of the expanded College Football Playoff averaged 10.6 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, and TNT Sports.
- Ohio State's victory over Tennessee on Saturday night drew 14.3 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched college football game of the 2024 season.
- Notre Dame's win against Indiana on Friday night attracted 13.4 million viewers, ranking as the third-most-watched game of the season and the team's most-viewed home game since 1993.
- Daytime games on Saturday, aired on TNT Sports, set channel records for college football viewership, with Texas-Clemson averaging 8.6 million viewers and SMU-Penn State drawing 6.4 million.
- Despite strong ratings for the CFP, the NFL's regular-season games on Saturday significantly outperformed the college matchups in overlapping time slots, with NFL games averaging over 17 million viewers.
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