A year ago, the Alabama Crimson Tide were the most-watched team in college football. This year, that title belongs to another SEC team.
The Georgia Bulldogs took the top spot among the list of most-watched teams, according to Nielsen data. An average of 8.6 million viewers watched Kirby Smart’s team per game.
Georgia was followed by the Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 2 and Alabama at No. 3. The Crimson Tide’s first season without Nick Saban since 2006 saw an average of 6.6 million viewers per game. That was still a shade higher than the Texas Longhorns‘ average of 6.4 million viewers and the Tennessee Volunteers‘ 5.4 million.
In 2023, Alabama averaged 7.12 million viewers per game as the most-watched team in college football, according to that year’s Nielsen data. Ohio State was second at 6.05 million.
On championship weekend, the Georgia vs. Texas rematch in the SEC Championship Game drew smaller ratings than last year’s Alabama vs. Georgia showdown in Atlanta.
Front Office Sports’ David Rumsey explains the big reason why:
“As conference championship games took on new meanings ahead of the first 12-team College Football Playoff, 16.6 million people watched Georgia-Texas on ABC on Saturday afternoon, according to Nielsen ratings.
“That’s down 5% from Alabama-Georgia on CBS last year when the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs were fighting for one of four CFP spots. This year, both Georgia and Texas were virtually guaranteed to make the CFP, even with a loss.”
Per Nielsen, eight of the 10 most-watched teams were from the SEC, with only Michigan (No. 6) joining Ohio State among non-SEC teams.
Georgia was the most popular team in college football this season based on average viewership per game pic.twitter.com/3FEcWWc1Ug
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) December 11, 2024
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