In the second and potentially final year of the 12-team College Football Playoff, the semifinal games were the least-watched in the 12-year history of the event.
The CFP semifinals averaged 16.8 million viewers on the ESPN family of networks, down 13% from last year (19.2M) and the least-watched pair of semis in the history of the playoff. The previous low was 16.9 million in December 2021, when the games took place on New Year’s Eve. The semifinals averaged 22.6 million in the final year of the four-team format two years ago, when the games took place on New Year’s Day.
The semifinals fared far worse than the previous week’s quarterfinals, which not only averaged a larger audience of 19.3 million, but also increased double-digits from last year (+14%). They also posted a steeper year-over-year decline than the first round games, which fell seven percent facing stronger NFL competition than a year ago (from 10.6 to 9.9 million).
The full playoff is now averaging 14.9 million, which ESPN said Tuesday is “on par” with last year. Viewership had been up three percent through the quarterfinals.
Given the changes in Nielsen methodology between last year and now — specifically the expansion of its out-of-home viewing sample and shift to “Big Data + Panel” methodology — it is likely the playoff would be a few percentage points off last year’s pace all things being equal.
Last Friday’s Indiana-Oregon Peach Bowl was the most-watched of the semifinals with an average of 18.0 million across the ESPN family of networks, down 13% from last year’s Ohio State-Texas Cotton Bowl in the same Friday night window (20.6M).
The last time the Peach Bowl hosted a semifinal, Georgia-Ohio State on New Year’s Eve 2022, the game averaged 22.45 million. Last year’s Peach Bowl, a quarterfinal between Texas and Arizona State, averaged 17.3 million in the early afternoon New Year’s Day window.
The Hoosiers’ easy win, which peaked with 21.4 million viewers, ranks 17th out of the 24 total CFP semifinals. Three of the bottom eight have come in the two years of the 12-team playoff era, which has resulted in the semifinals moving off of their New Year’s adjacent dates to the second week of January.
Viewership would likely have fared better had the game been closer, as Indiana routed Oregon by 34 points. It was the second-straight Hoosier blowout, following Indiana’s 35-point drubbing of Alabama in the Rose Bowl — though viewership for that game was up year-over-year.
The Peach Bowl still delivered a larger audience than the previous night’s Miami-Mississippi Fiesta Bowl, a classic back-and-forth affair decided in the final seconds (15.8M). While Friday nights are generally lower rated than Thursdays, it is perhaps the case that viewers are more accustomed to watching big college football games on the former rather than the latter.
It should be noted that Indiana-Oregon posted a slightly steeper decline than did Miami-Mississippi, which was down 11% from last year.
