A dramatic national championship rematch delivered a massive audience for CBS.
Saturday’s Alabama-Georgia SEC Championship Game earned a 10.1 rating and 17.5 million viewers on CBS, up 26% in ratings and 30% in viewership from last year (Georgia-Auburn: 8.0, 13.5M) and up 53% and 58% respectively from 2016 (Alabama-Florida: 6.6, 11.1M).
The Tide’s comeback win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched college football game, excluding bowls, since LSU-Alabama on CBS in 2011 (11.5, 20.0M). That was a matchup of the nation’s top two teams.
It also ranks as the highest rated and most-watched SEC Championship Game since Alabama-Florida in 2009, another #1 vs. #2 matchup (11.1, 18.0M).
Overall, Saturday’s game delivered the fifth-largest non-bowl audience since 1991 and the second-largest audience in the history of the SEC Championship (began in 1992).
Excluding the NFL and the Olympics, Alabama-Georgia ranks as the ninth-most watched sporting event of 2018. It trails the three College Football Playoff games, three of the four NBA Finals games, and the final games of the World Series and World Cup.
Notably, it outdrew every game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on CBS and Turner Sports.
In adults 18-49, the game had a 4.6 rating (+24%). Since the start of the new TV season, only NFL games, Game 5 of the World Series (4.6) and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (6.0) have had as high a rating in the demo.
CBS ended the season averaging a 3.4 rating for SEC games, up 13% from last year and the highest average rating for any college football package this season.
The full list of championship week college football ratings is available here.
Most-Watched College Football Games Dating Back to 1991
[Numbers from CBS Sports PR]
