College Football Playoff ratings drop 7% as NFL competition impacts viewership

Last weekend's first round of the College Football Playoff averaged 9.9 million viewers on ABC, ESPN, TNT, TBS and truTV, according to ESPN and Nielson. That is a 7% drop from last year.

A big reason for the drop was that the final game, James Madison versus Oregon, was on TNT, TBS and truTV and not on ABC and ESPN, along with an NFL game in prime time.

The Chicago Bears' 22-16 overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers on Fox averaged 21.3 million viewers while Oregon's 51-34 win over James Madison drew 4.4 million. Last year's Ohio State-Tennessee game on ABC/ESPN averaged 14.3 million, plus it did not go up against an NFL game.

The most-watched CFP game was Alabama's 34-24 comeback victory over Oklahoma, which averaged 14.9 million on a Friday night on ABC/ESPN. Not only was that the highest-viewed CFP first-round game in the two years of the expanded 12-team field, it was the fifth-most watched game of the season. Six of the top 20 most-viewed games this year involve Alabama.

Last year's CFP opener between Notre Dame and Indiana averaged 13.4 million.

Miami's 10-7 win over Texas A&M averaged 14.8 million on ABC/ESPN on Saturday afternoon and more than doubled the 6.4 million that tuned in for the SMU-Penn State game in the same time slot on TNT/TBS and truTV.

The Hurricanes' victory was the sixth-most watched game of the season.

Ole Miss' 41-10 rout of Tulane averaged 6.2 million on TNT/TBS and truTV, down from the 8.6 million average from last year's Texas-Clemson game in the same time slot and networks.

The Saturday middle CFP game has had competition from the NFL the last two years. Philadelphia's 29-18 win over Washington on Fox averaged 15.5 million, the same audience that tuned in for last year's game between Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

ESPN sublicenses CFP games to TNT/TBS and truTV. Besides two first-round games again next year, the Warner Bros. Discovery channels will have two quarterfinals and a semifinal game.

Last year's four quarterfinal matchups averaged 16.9 million on ESPN and ESPN2.

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