The 2021 college football TV ratings page. For the current year (2023) ratings, go to the main page. Numbers obtained from network PR, ShowBuzz Daily, Sports Business Daily, Spoiler TV and Programming Insider.
2021 college football TV ratings
Bowl games
The National Championship rebounded from last year’s low but remained among the least-watched in the CFP/BCS era.
Conference championships
The SEC Championship topped conference championship weekend, ranking second for the season with more than 15 million viewers.
Week 13
Ohio State-Michigan delivered the top college football regular season audience in more than two years, topping an 8.0 rating and 15 million viewers on FOX. Thanksgiving weekend featured the two largest audiences of the season, with the Iron Bowl ranking second at more than 10 million.
Week 12
The SEC on CBS topped week twelve of the season, with ABC’s tripleheader taking the next three spots.
Week 11
The Big Ten topped the college football chart for the third-straight week as nearly six million viewers watched ABC’s Michigan-Penn State game.
Week 10
Ohio State-Nebraska topped the charts in week ten of the season, while Alabama-LSU delivered cable’s largest audience of the season with 5 million viewers on ESPN. As for some of the massive gains versus last year, keep in mind that the comparable Saturday of last year is when the presidential election was called.
Week 9
Michigan-Michigan State delivered college football’s top audience of the season with over nine million viewers on FOX.
Week 8
Tennessee-Alabama scored the largest cable audience of the season in week eight, averaging 4.68 million viewers on ESPN. ESPN/ABC aired the four most-watched games of the weekend.
Week 7
Kentucky-Georgia topped the charts in week seven of the season, averaging significantly more viewers than any other game during the week.
Week 6
Texas A&M’s upset of Alabama was the most-watched game of week six — and the second-most watched of the season — followed by the top-five clash of Penn State and Iowa.
* Alabama-Texas A&M is compared to last year’s primetime game on CBS, Georgia-Alabama.
Week 5
No college football game cracked the five million viewer mark in week five, a first this season.
Week 4
Notre Dame-Wisconsin topped the charts in the first week of the college football season wherein no game cracked the six million viewer mark.
Week 3
Two more college football games topped the seven million viewer mark in week three, bringing the full-season total to five. (One asterisk this week — ABC’s Georgia Tech-Clemson was affected by weather delays and concluded on cable.)
Week 2
Oregon’s upset of Ohio State comfortably led the week two college football ratings charts, delivering the third-largest audience of the season overall.
Weeks 0-1
Five week one college football games topped the five million viewer mark — the most since 2016 — led by Georgia-Clemson on ABC’s Saturday Night Football. Georgia-Clemson was the most-watched week one game since 2017 and Ohio State-Minnesota on FOX was the most-watched opening Thursday game on record.
Ratings for previous seasons
2020 college football TV ratings are available on page two. Previous years are available through the following links: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012.
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