The most lopsided chapter of the Clemson-Alabama rivalry delivered a possible record-low rating for college football’s national championship.
Monday’s Clemson-Alabama College Football Playoff National Championship had a 13.8 rating and 25.28 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS, down 12% in ratings and 11% in viewership from Alabama-Georgia last year (15.6, 28.44M). Compared to the same Clemson-Alabama matchup in 2017, ratings fell 3% but viewership increased a fraction of a percent (14.2, 25.27M). Prior figures do not include ESPNEWS, which was not a Nielsen rated network from 2016-18.
Clemson’s blowout win, which peaked with 27.84 million during the first half, ranks as the third-least watched national championship in 11 years — since LSU-Ohio State on FOX in 2008 (23.1M) — and the seventh-least watched in the CFP/Bowl Championship Series era (21 games).
The 13.8 rating is tied as the second-lowest for any national championship in the CFP/BCS era, matching Miami-Nebraska in 2002 and ahead of USC-Oklahoma in 2005 (13.7).
Clemson-Alabama completed a clean sweep of declines for the College Football Playoff. All three games declined double-digits from last year, when the semifinals took place on New Year’s Day. Notably, the national championship had a lower rating and fewer viewers than last year’s New Year’s Day Rose Bowl, a playoff semifinal (Georgia-Oklahoma: 13.7, 26.91M).
It should be noted that none of this year’s three games were competitive, with Clemson’s two wins decided by four touchdowns.
Despite the declines, Monday’s game still earned a larger audience than every game of last year’s World Series, every game of the last two NBA Finals, and every game of the last three NCAA men’s basketball tournaments. It trounced last year’s Villanova-Michigan men’s basketball championship on Turner Sports, which had a 9.2 and 16.0 million.
Across ESPN and ESPN2, Monday’s game had a 7.8 rating in adults 18-49 (-12%), a 6.3 in adults 18-34 (-16%) and an 8.8 in adults 25-54 (-11%).
The full list of college football bowl ratings is available here.
[Numbers from Nielsen via Programming Insider 1.8, ESPN PR 1.8, Sports Business Daily 1.9]
