A classic Rose Bowl delivered college football’s largest audience in six years.
Monday’s College Football Playoff semifinals averaged 22.6 million viewers across the ESPN networks, per Nielsen fast-nationals — the highest average since 2017 and third-highest in the decade-long history of the playoff.
The Michigan-Alabama Rose Bowl led the way with 27.2 million viewers, marking the largest college football audience since the 2018 Alabama-Georgia national championship (28.44M) and second-largest since the inaugural year of the playoff in 2015. Outside of the NFL, no sporting event has averaged a larger audience since the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics (27.84M). (Keep in mind Nielsen did not begin tracking out-of-home viewing in its viewership estimates until 2020.)
The Wolverines’ overtime win, which peaked with a semifinal-record 32.8 million viewers, increased 21% from last year’s comparable TCU-Michigan Fiesta Bowl, which aired on New Year’s Eve (21.70M). The previous Rose Bowl to host a semifinal was Alabama-Notre Dame in 2021, which took place in Arlington (Tex.) and averaged 19.27 million viewers. The previous traditional Rose Bowl semifinal was Georgia’s overtime win over Oklahoma in 2018, which averaged 26.91 million.
As goes without saying, Michigan-Alabama delivered the largest audience of the college football season. The Wolverines have played in the top two games, with their regular season win over Ohio State placing second at north of 19 million.
Later in the night, the Washington-Texas Sugar Bowl averaged 18.4 million — down 18% from last year’s Georgia-Ohio State Peach Bowl (22.45M) and the least-watched New Year’s Day semifinal yet. The previous Sugar Bowl to host a semifinal, Ohio State-Clemson in 2021, averaged 19.54 million.
The Huskies’ win, which peaked with 24.5 million viewers, did not begin until after 9 PM ET due to the length of the Rose Bowl and lasted until nearly 1 AM. Of the 20 total semifinal games under the four-team format, it ranks 15th.
This year marks the end of the four-team College Football Playoff. The event expands to twelve teams starting next season. The two most-watched semifinal games under the four-team format remain the first ones in the 2014-15 season, the Ohio State-Alabama Sugar Bowl at 28.27 million viewers and the Oregon-Florida State Rose Bowl at 28.16 million. ESPN was in more than 90 million homes then, compared to 70 million at last check.
