Ratings Roundup: ESPN CFP Broadcasts Hit Viewership Highs Across All Stages

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, PWHL inaugural season opener garners 2.9 million viewers; Atlanta Hawks broadcast on Bally Sports brings increased viewership and more.

ESPN Delivers Record Viewership Across College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six

ESPN’s premier presentation of the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six reached multi-year viewership highs and record audience numbers across ESPN platforms. ESPN platforms’ full slate of college football bowls this season averaged 4.6 million viewers across 40 total games, up 5% year-over-year.

The complete seven-game College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six averaged 15.1 million viewers, the best in five years and fifth highest in the 10-year history of the College Football Playoff, up 12% year-over-year.

National Championship Notches Multi-Year Highs

The College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T scored 25 million viewers, with the Michigan/Washington showdown recording the best audience since the 2020 CFP National Championship (Clemson/LSU in Year 6). Viewership of Monday night’s matchup was up 45% year-over-year and 11% above 2022. The Wolverines’ first national title in nearly three decades ranks as a top 15 cable telecast all-time and the fourth-best non-NFL sports telecast since 2018. The title matchup peaked with 28 million viewers from 9-9:15 p.m. ET.

The top five local markets for ESPN’s signature MegaCast presentation on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU were as follows: Detroit (28.4), Seattle-Tacoma (22.1), Birmingham (20.4), Columbus (20.4) and Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville (19.2).

College Football Playoff Most-Watched Since 2018

The three-game College Football Playoff was the most-watched in six years (since Year 4) and third best of the CFP era, delivering 23.6 million viewers and 15% year-over-year audience growth across the trio of games. The CFP Semifinals drew their best audience in six years and third-highest of the CFP era, propelling ESPN to its fourth most-watched day in history. Nearly 10 million viewers watched across both ESPN and ESPN2 in the average minute throughout New Year’s Day. The two-game semifinal average was up 4% year-over-year, with the games attracting their highest share of viewing on record.

The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl reached nearly 50 million viewers, and 36% of total viewers and 52% of P18-49 viewers who were watching TV during the games were tuned in to the Semifinals, a record high share for the semifinals in the 10 years of the CFP era.

New Year’s Six Scores Best Audience Since 2019

The 2023-24 New Year’s Six averaged 13.5 million viewers, its best audience in five years and fifth highest in the 10-year history of the CFP. Viewership was up 5% over the 2022-23 edition and among P18-49 viewers, the six games delivered 4.4 million viewers, up 3% year-over-year.

College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential: 27.7M

• Most-watched Semifinal since Year 1 and third best of CFP era
• Top non-NFL sports telecast since 2018 and a top 10 telecast in cable history
• Up 28% from early Semifinal last year (TCU/Michigan)

College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl: 18.7M

• Fourth best Sugar Bowl since 2004

Capital One Orange Bowl: 10.4M

• Best non-Semifinal Orange Bowl since 2017
• Up 2% from Penn State/Utah in similar window last year
• Most-streamed college football game ever on ESPN+

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic: 9.7M

• Best standalone primetime NY6 game since 2016
• Up 12% from Tennessee/Clemson in similar window last year
• 2nd most-streamed college football game ever on ESPN+

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: 7.8M

• 3rd most-streamed college football game ever on ESPN+

Vrbo Fiesta Bowl: 4.7M

• Up +12% from Tulane/USC in similar window last year

ESPN’s Bowl Season presentation scored 2.4 million viewers across 33 games. 28 matchups surpassed one million viewers, with 19 drawing 2 million viewers and nine topping 3 million viewers. 11 games reached multi-year highs, with the following becoming the most-watched non-NY6 bowl games of the season:

• Citrus Bowl: 6.8M
  • Best since 2019-20
• ReliaQuest Bowl: 4.6M
  • Best since 2017-18
  • ESPN2’s most-watched sports event since 2018
• Pop-Tarts Bowl: 4.3M
• Valero Alamo Bowl: 3.9M
• Duke’s Mayo Bowl: 3.8M
  • Best since 2016-17

Digital Touts All-Time Traffic

ESPN.com experienced Semifinal surges of its own during the CFP. There were 4.6 million unique visitors to college football content on ESPN.com on New Year’s Day, with Alabama and Michigan squaring off in the Rose Bowl Game becoming the top college football Gamecast of the year.

FCS Playoffs Post Overall Viewership Gains

The 2024 FCS Championship between Montana and South Dakota State averaged just over one million viewers on ABC, on par with last year’s audience.

The FCS Playoffs averaged 845,000 viewers across ESPN linear platforms, up 3% year-over-year, driven by the quarterfinals and featuring the round’s second-best game on record as Villanova and eventual champion South Dakota State delivered 1.8 million viewers.

The FCS Championship on ESPN+ tripled its audience over the 2023 championship and now ranks as the most-watched FCS game ever on ESPN+.

MegaCast Presentation of College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T Scores 25 Million Viewers – Largest Audience Since Year 6

ESPN’s most-watched CFP National Championship in 4 years

• Michigan v Washington National Championship
  • 25 million viewers
  • Best audience since Clemson/LSU in Year 6
  • +45% YoY; +11% above 2022
  • Top 15 cable telecast of all-time
  • 4th best non-NFL sports telecast since 2018
  • Peak: 28M (9-9:15 p.m. ET)
• ESPN College Football Playoff
  • 23.6 million viewers
  • 3-game CFP +15% YoY
  • Most-watched CFP since year 4

Bally Sports Continues to See Increased Viewership for Atlanta Hawks Telecasts

FOX NFL SUNDAY’s 30th Consecutive Season as the #1 NFL Pregame Show

With an average of 4,392,000 viewers this year, FOX NFL SUNDAY marks its 30th consecutive season as the top NFL pregame show.

AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK Finishes with Best Season Since 2015

AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK finished with an average of 24,622,000 viewers; up +2% over last season (24,130,000).

ESPN’s MNF Achieves its Best Viewership Since the 2000 Season, Surpassing 5 Years on Broadcast TV & All Previous Years on ESPN En Route to Reaching 124 Million Fans

ESPN’s Monday Night Football delivered its most-watched season in 23 years, punctuating a season of superlatives for the iconic television franchise. Along the way, MNF reached 124 million fans, lifted its audience in every key demo by double-digits, and aired four games whose viewership surpassed all previous MNF games dating back to the 2000 NFL season (395+ games).

Highest Viewership in Decades

The 2023 Monday Night Football season is the show’s most watched since the 2000 NFL season, with viewership surpassing each of the previous 18 seasons in the ESPN era (2006 – present) and the five seasons leading into that era when MNF aired singularly on ABC.

ESPN averaged 17,363,000 viewers a game (22 games including Doubleheader Saturday in Week 18), up 29% from the 2022 MNF season. The 17.4 million viewers a game was also up 18% from the 2010 MNF season, ESPN’s previous most-watched season in the Monday Night Football era.

The 124 million fans that watched Monday Night Football throughout the season represents growth of 17% from the 2022 season.

Doubleheader Saturday Provides Strong Conclusion to the Regular Season

ESPN punctuated its regular season with Doubleheader Saturday (January 6) with the Houston Texans at Indianapolis Colts (8:15 p.m.)  averaging 19.7 million viewers and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens (4:30 p.m.) with 19.8 million viewers.  This year’s games rank as the second and third most-watched Doubleheader Saturday games of the six ESPN has aired (2021-23 seasons), with the AFC North game was up 11% year-over-year and the AFC South up 3%.

The re-writing of the record books comes during a season in which ESPN increased its NFL game inventory for the third consecutive season, now airing 23 regular season games and with the Super Wild Card finale and ESPN’s first Divisional game on the horizon. Legendary broadcast duo Joe Buck and Troy Aikman concluded their second season as faces of the franchise and their 22nd season as partners, an NFL record. Lisa Salters added to her reign as the longest-tenured sideline reporter in MNF history, concluding her 12th season.

Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli

Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli averaged 1.24 million viewers this season (nine games), as the show continues to re-write the record books for ESPN’s alternate telecasts. The series aired its second most-watched show ever in Week 11, garnering 1.9 million viewers for Eagles-Chiefs.

Massive Demo Increases for ESPN’s Monday Night Football
ESPN’s collective audience success was the result of individual increases in every key demo. Among the many highlights:

Inclusive of All 22 Linear Games

Individual Game Successes Helped Deliver Season-Long Success

Monday Night Football’s 20-year high viewership was buoyed by individual game viewership successes, including airing the four most-watched games since the 2000 season.

Monday Night Football Most-Watched Games Since 2000

Majority of Monday Night Football’s Most-Watched Games Aired in Previous Two Years

In the two most recent seasons, ESPN has aired 8 of the 10 most-watched Monday Night Footballgames in the ESPN era (305+ games). The games include the four mentioned above plus the Broncos at Seahawks (Week 1, 2022) with 19.9 million viewers, Cowboys at Chargers (Week 6, 2023) with 19.7 million viewers, Eagles at Seahawks (Week 15, 2023) with 19.4 million viewers and Cowboys at Giants (Week 3, 2022) also with 19.4 million viewers.

Please note: Doesn’t include any games from Doubleheader Saturday (Week 18), which has aired in 2021, 2022, and 2023 seasons.

Additional Highlights:

• ESPN’s NFL Week 4 was highlighted by the debut of Toy Story Funday Football – a first-of-its-kind NFL alternate presentation. The animated, real-time viewing option within Pixar’s iconic “Toy Story” world and the separate traditional telecast launched the NFL’s 2023 International Series featuring the Falcons vs. Jaguars from Wembley Stadium in London.
  • The Falcons-Jaguars traditional game presentation was the most-viewed event ever on ESPN+, and the Toy Story Funday Football alternate presentation delivered the biggest live event to date on Disney+ (based on peak concurrency).
• In adding to a new initiative, ESPN aired two games on three different Monday nights this season (Weeks 2,3 and 14), with one game airing on ESPN and another on ABC. During the overlapping game action, ESPN platforms saw audiences of 21.8 million, 21.9 million, 19.8 million, respectively.

“NFL ON CBS” Delivers Record-Breaking Regular Season Across Platforms

The NFL ON CBS heads into the postseason and Super Bowl LVIII after record-setting viewership across platforms.

• CBS Sports delivered its most-watched regular season since the NFL returned to CBS in 1998, averaging 19.345 million viewers and up +5% vs. last year.
• The NFL ON CBS national game at 4:25 PM ET averaged 24.637 million viewers for its 10 Sunday afternoon windows, which is more than any other sports, entertainment or news series on any network.
• Viewership for the 2023 NFL season was led by CBS Sports’ presentation of the Thanksgiving Day game between the Cowboys and Commanders, which averaged 41.762 million viewers and is the second-most watched regular season game in NFL history.
• The NFL ON CBS recorded three of the top five games of the season with Commanders-Cowboys on Thanksgiving (No. 1 with 41.762 million viewers), Bills-Eagles on Nov. 26 (No. 4 with 30.903 million viewers) and Raiders-Chiefs on Christmas (No. 5 with 29.477 million viewers).
• Paramount+, featuring live NFL ON CBS local market games, scored its most-steamed NFL regular season ever and recorded double-digit year-over-year growth in households, minutes and Average Minute Audience (AMA).

NHL On ESPN Thursday Night Delivers Strong Viewership

• Pittsburgh-Boston averaged 846K total viewers and 287K P18-P49 viewers, making it ESPN’s most-viewed NHL regular season game since re-acquiring the rights in 2021 (excluding opening night games)
• Viewership peaked with 1.2M viewers in the 9:35 pm quarter-hour
• Through 15 games, NHL on ESPN is averaging 576K viewers and 259K P18-49, up 43% and 46% respectively vs. last year

The Pat McAfee Show Sees Steady Growth in December Garnering 886,000 Average Viewers Per Episode Across Live Channels

The Pat McAfee Show has gained even more popularity since the show launched on ESPN platforms in September. In December, the show garnered 886,000 average viewers per episode during the live airings across all platforms (ESPN, YouTube, TikTok) through the show’s innovative live simulcast options.

ESPN’s linear audience alone has ballooned by 20% since the first four weeks (Sept 7 to 29) now averaging 332,000 viewers per episode in the month of December, while the YouTube audience averaged 403,000 concurrently. Combined, it marks a 35% year-over-year increase from the noon to 2 p.m. time slot in 2022.

“It’s been a wild ride this season with ESPN. We’ve had the phenomenal opportunity to do what we love on a scale that we’ve never done before,” says Pat McAfee. “Day to day it certainly feels like a lot of folks are watching our program, but I genuinely try not to focus on numbers too much because you’re only as good as your last show. Everything can change at any given moment so we try and work hard and be good people. We’re insanely lucky that we have found ourselves in this position, we know that. We appreciate that. We try and do it right.

“So many cool moments happened this year because of our relationship with ESPN. Jimmy Pitaro has been incredibly hospitable and motivating. Burke Magnus has continued to be a strong ally. Senior vice president Mike Foss and Julie McKay have helped us do things we’d never been able to do as an independent operation.”

The average minute audience for the show jumped from 570,000 in the first four weeks to 735,000 across linear and YouTube in the month of December – a 29% increase, and averaged 55.5 minutes watched per show across all platforms, up from 44.5 average minutes viewed during the first four weeks.

“Pat and the boys have grown their audience every month since joining ESPN and have been an incredible addition,” says Mike Foss, senior vice president of studio and digital production, ESPN. “The first three months have been a tremendous success across every platform regardless of how you add it up.”

All segments, clips and social audience of the show reached 298 million total views during the month of December – a 23% increase since the inaugural month. The Pat McAfee Show brought in 1.7 million total reach per show during the month, an increase of 21% from the first four weeks and saw its biggest episode to date on Dec. 26 bringing in 902,000 viewers across linear and YouTube.

“We evolved some things to try and appease the linear watchers, and I think certain numbers would say that we’ve won some folks over but our show being accessible to folks that aren’t necessarily in front of televisions in the middle of the afternoon (or morning depending on where you live, obvi) is a real weapon for us,” says McAfee regarding the show’s unique and innovative live offerings. “Our YouTube audience, who we LOVE, has only grown. They’re the only reason we exist. I’m very thankful for them and I genuinely thought our overall number might drop with an addition of another platform but our daily concurrents have actually added 4% every week this entire season.”

The Pat McAfee Show’s digital audience soared in the month of December with TikTok alone totaling 107 million views. The show’s YouTube total brought in 49.3 million views with 7.6 million hours watched.

“The addition of TikTok Live has been fun this season,” says McAfee. “It’s become a wonderful community of young folks who love sports. It’s been a phenomenal effort by Casey Tok Hamel, Bill Tubes McComas, Evan Fox, Gumpy and Mitt McMahon. “

ESPN’s licensing of The Pat McAfee Show is an expansion of McAfee’s current multiplatform role as a college football analyst on ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot and as a host of alternate presentations of ESPN college football telecasts.

McAfee’s second full season at the GameDay desk finished as the show’s second-most watched season since 2011, trailing only to 2022’s record year, and featured his team regularly joining GameDay locations for live Friday shows, drawing large, passionate audiences.The most recent Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show delivered the largest audience for any college football alternate telecast since 2006 with 1.4 million viewers from the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential.

“We had the incredible opportunity to do the show LIVE on Fridays in beautiful towns across the country and talk to folks that spend time with us every day from home, work, school, the hospital, war zones, the ship and wherever else folks access our show from. It was stupendous,” says McAfee on the traveling shows.

In addition to McAfee himself, The Pat McAfee Show features co-host A.J. Hawk, Connor Campbell, Ty Schmit, Tone Digs, Darius Butler, A.Q. Shipley, Coach Chuck Pagano, Evan Fox, Zito Perez, Nick Maraldo, Phil Mains, Casey “Tok” Hamel, Matt “Bruce” Brown, Michael Girdy, Bailey McComas and Mitt McMahon, among others. The show also has a robust slate of weekly recurring guests, including NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers (Tuesdays), former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt (Wednesdays) and Alabama football head coach Nick Saban (Thursdays).

“Watching the boys get their shine and more folks realize their greatness has been a nice fulfilling bonus to this season with ESPN as well,” adds McAfee. “Boston Connor, Ty Schmit, Tone Digs, and Darius Butler have brought it every single day. The back room of Foxy, Zeety, Frank, Gump, Dirdy, and Bruce have showcased world class talent while operating a show that would normally need 20 people to do the same work.

“We’re gonna continue to try and cover sports in a comedic informative way for as long as our people will have us. I/we don’t always get it right but, everyday we’re trying to unify the world thru the celebration of sport and laugh a little along the way.

“We’re excited to continue alongside the Worldwide Leader and are very grateful for the opportunity.”

The show is simulcast from noon – 2 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN on YouTube and ESPN+, with the final 2-3ish p.m. hour airing on ESPN+ and The Pat McAfee Show channel on YouTube presented by ESPN, and will be live from the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T on Monday, Jan. 8, in Houston. Following the show, Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show returns for the title game kicking off at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

ESPN Rang in 2024 with the Fourth Most-Watched Day in the Network’s History

On Monday, Jan. 1, ESPN rang in 2024 with the network’s fourth most-watched day ever (1979-present), thanks to a slate anchored by the College Football Playoff Semifinals and New Year’s Six. ESPN averaged 8.5 million viewers throughout the day, led by the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl, with a trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship on the line.

The Vrbo Fiesta Bowl followed morning editions of SportsCenter and College GameDay Built by The Home Depot and led into the College Football Playoff Semifinals. The day concluded with multiple editions of SportsCenter, including SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt immediately following No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington securing their spots in the National Championship.

SportsCenter Sees Year-Over-Year Viewership Growth for All Editions

ESPN’s signature news and information program SportsCenter continues to be the leading place for sports fans to go for sports news on television, with all editions of the iconic daily show seeing year-over-year viewership growth in 2023.

SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt, which airs at midnight ET or late night following live games, led the way with an average viewership of 741,000 per episode, a four percent increase over the 2022 average of 710,000. The program ended the year with a strong month of December, averaging 963,000 viewers for the month, a 30 percent year-over-year increase, including an audience of 2.7 million for the Dec. 30 edition.

The 1 a.m. program, which originates from Los Angeles for most editions, had the largest year-over-year viewership percentage increase, jumping 22 percent from 2022 to 2023 to 411,000 average viewers.

In addition, all editions of SportsCenter saw year-over-year increases in viewership among younger viewers in the Persons ages 18-49 demographic.

New editions of SportsCenter air on ESPN at 7 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m., 11 p.m., midnight and 1 a.m. ET on most days, as well as 7 a.m. on weekend mornings and with evening/late night weekend editions depending upon live events.

The 2 p.m. edition, which debuted in September, averaged 290,000 viewers in its first four months.

2.9 Million Canadian Watch Opening Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) Game

History was made as the inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) game reached 2.9 million Canadian viewers on New Year’s Day. Live coverage of the league’s season opener between Toronto and New York, played at a sold-out Mattamy Athletic Centre, aired on CBC, Sportsnet, and TSN.

The 2.9 million viewers across Canada represent a combined reach over the league’s three Canadian national broadcast partners, including pre-game coverage. CBC, Sportsnet, and TSN provided unprecedented collaboration for a regular-season game to generate an historic audience in Canada. The debut game generated a combined average audience of 879K (2+) and was the number one sports or entertainment program of the day across all networks. The peak moment featured 1.113 million viewers at 1:49 p.m. ET and occurred midway through the second period with New York leading Toronto 1-0. New York would go on to win the game 4-0.

“The enthusiastic response to our historic opening game reflects Canada’s national interest in our sport, our outstanding athletes and the PWHL,” says Stan Kasten, PWHL Advisory Board member. “We truly hear the statement our viewing audience made Monday, and we cherish the level of engagement shown. We will work even more intently with our broadcast partners to build the PWHL community through the quality productions and storytelling our great fans deserve.”

Streaming of the game on the league’s YouTube channel has provided total viewership of 130.1K since puck drop, peaked at 15,986 concurrent viewers, has generated 738.2K impressions, and an average view duration of 24:51.

Opening game viewership on Jan. 1 was followed by record-setting attendance on Jan. 2 when 8,318 fans sold-out the league’s second ever game, played between Ottawa and Montreal at The Arena at TD Place. A crowd of 4,012 attended Boston’s home opener against Minnesota on Wednesday night at Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell.

Afternoons on FS1 Wrap 2023 With Viewership Records

The Herd

• December was most-watched month EVER, up +23% YoY
• 13th consecutive month of YoY viewership growth
• Most-watched year EVER, up +19% vs. 2022

First Things First

• December was most-watched month, EVER, up +72% YoY
• 16th consecutive month of double-digit YoY growth
• Most-watched year EVER, up +82% vs. 2022
• 49 of FTF’s 50 most-watched telecasts EVER came in 2023

SPEAK

• Most-watched December EVER and second most-watched month in show’s history overall, up +56% YoY
• 14th. consecutive month of YoY growth
• Second most-watched year EVER, up +29& vs. 2022