The 2024 college football viewership picture is coming into focus. And with it are some big time revelations.
The viewership story of the regular season was ABC’s dominance on the back of its new package of SEC games. After taking over the lead SEC package from CBS this season, ABC was able to parlay its ownership over the entirety of the conference’s inventory into Saturdays that featured tripleheaders of back-to-back-to-back SEC games.
ABC’s strategy paid off. The network’s 7:30 p.m. ET SEC window was by far the most-watched college football window of the regular season. ABC averaged 7.39 million viewers for its primetime games, up a staggering 106 percent from its primetime window in 2023 (3.59 million viewers). That’s the type of viewership growth rarely seen in today’s age of linear television.
Quality of matchup is largely to thank. Last season, ABC generally aired games from the ACC, Big 12, and Pac-12 during its primetime window. This year, the network slotted its best (or second-best) SEC matchup into primetime. The viewership data would indicate this was the right move.
ABC also saw substantial increases for its 3:30 p.m. ET window this season. Again, the quality of game is the main culprit. This year, ABC averaged 5.83 million viewers for its afternoon window that featured top-level SEC games, up 57 percent versus 2023 (3.71 million viewers) which featured a hodgepodge of different conferences.
Perhaps most notable about ABC’s afternoon window is that it will be the second most-watched college football window this regular season, ahead of Fox’s Big Noon Saturday. Fox’s noon window has been the most-watched in college football for several years running, but will fall to the third most-watched this season.
Big Noon Saturday averaged 5.58 million viewers per game this season on Fox, down 10 percent versus 2023 (6.20 million viewers). No doubt, Fox was hurt by a comparatively weak installment of “The Game” between Ohio State and Michigan this season. Saturday’s edition drew just 12.32 million viewers for Fox — still the most-watched college football game of the week, but down 35 percent from last year’s game (19.06 million viewers). A similarly strong audience this season would’ve been enough for Fox to claim second ahead of ABC’s afternoon window.
While ABC’s success is certainly the story of the season, some of that success came at the cost of sister network ESPN. Last year, ESPN averaged 2.33 million viewers per regular season game. That number has dropped substantially this season to just 1.78 million viewers per game, down 24 percent year-over-year.
Awful Announcing reported earlier this season that at least part of ABC’s viewership increase was coming at the expense of ESPN. Prior to obtaining the lead SEC package, ESPN would air a number of high-profile SEC games each year. Now, most of those games have moved to ABC, with the conference’s leftovers being placed on ESPN.
This change isn’t overly relevant to viewers, but is certainly noticed by pay-TV distributors who pay high fees to include ESPN in their cable packages.
Still, Disney has to be satisfied with the significant gains that they’ve made in overall college football viewership this year. Sacrificing a bit of ESPN seems to be a prudent move for increases of 106 percent and 57 percent on ABC. Beating Fox is the cherry on top.
As for NBC, who entered its second year of a full Big Ten package this season, returns are modestly positive. The network averaged 3.09 million viewers per game this season, up 6 percent versus 2023 (2.92 million viewers). That increase tracks given the network’s better schedule of games.
CBS remains at an impasse with audience measurement company Nielsen, and viewership data for those games are not immediately available.
[Viewership data via Sports Media Watch and Programming Insider]
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