Back-to-back thrillers lifted the College Football Playoff semifinals to a five-year viewership high.
Saturday’s Georgia-Ohio State CFP semifinal at the Peach Bowl averaged a 9.8 rating and 22.45 million viewers on the ESPN family of networks, marking the most-watched CFP semifinal since the Georgia-Oklahoma Rose Bowl five years ago (26.9M).
The Bulldogs won shortly before Midnight ET, but viewership peaked two hours earlier at 24.3 million from 9:45-10 PM ET — prior to halftime — an indication that even as the game grew closer toward the Midnight hours, competition from New Year’s Eve celebrations limited the audience.
Even with the limitations of New Year’s Eve, Saturday’s game delivered the fourth-largest audience in the history of the playoff semifinals (18 total games). As with all historic comparisons, keep in mind that out-of-home viewing has only been included in Nielsen estimates in the past three seasons. It is highly likely that Ohio State-Clemson in 2019, which averaged 21.2 million without aid of out-of-home viewing, would have had a larger audience all things being equal.
Earlier Saturday, the TCU-Michigan Fiesta Bowl averaged a 10.0 and 21.4 million — the highest for an early semifinal since the aforementioned Georgia-Oklahoma Rose Bowl in ’18. The Horned Frogs’ win, which peaked in the final quarter-hour at 26.9 million, trails only the 2018 game and the 2015 Rose Bowl (the first playoff game) as the most-watched early semifinal.
Overall, the games averaged a 9.9 and 22.1 million viewers to rank as the most-watched semifinals since ’18. Georgia-Ohio State increased 21% in ratings and 31% in viewership from last year’s equivalent Orange Bowl (Georgia-Michigan: 8.1, 17.19M) and TCU-Michigan 16% and 30% respectively from last year’s equivalent Cotton Bowl (Alabama-Cincinnati: 8.6, 16.65M).
Shifting to the non-playoff New Year’s Six bowls, the Alabama-Kansas State Sugar Bowl led off Saturday’s slate with a 4.8 and 9.14 million viewers — unsurprisingly down from last year’s Sugar Bowl, which aired in primetime on New Year’s Day (Baylor-Mississippi: 5.1, 9.79M).
Alabama’s easy win still ranks as the most-watched lead-in to a CFP semifinal, topping the previous high set in 2015 (Michigan State-Baylor Cotton Bowl: 9.09M).
Friday’s Tennessee-Clemson Orange Bowl averaged a 4.6 and 8.59 million, the largest audience for that game — not counting years when it hosted a semifinal — since 2017.
(Nielsen estimates from ESPN PR, ShowBuzz Daily 1.4)
