Audience archive
Most-Watched College Football Games of 2012
The season’s largest reported television audiences, ranked by viewers after review and game matching. Where the archive has a related game video, it appears with that result.
Top 25 audiences
Reported audience is the primary rank; date and game ID break ties.
| Rank | Game | Audience | Broadcast | Date | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 32–28 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 16.2M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Dec 1, 2012 | |
| 2 | 22–13 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 16.1M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 24, 2012 | No related video |
| 3 | 21–17 · Week 10 · regular Game details → | 11.3M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 3, 2012 | |
| 4 | 29–24 · Week 11 · regular Game details → | 9.60M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 10, 2012 | No related video |
| 5 | 21–26 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 9.50M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 24, 2012 | No related video |
| 6 | 30–13 · Week 9 · regular Game details → | 8.60M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 27, 2012 | |
| 7 | 37–26 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 8.50M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 24, 2012 | No related video |
| 8 | 17–14 · Week 12 · regular Game details → | 8.30M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 17, 2012 | No related video |
| 9 | 14–41 · Week 1 · regular Game details → | 7.90M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 1, 2012 | No related video |
| 10 | 6–13 · Week 4 · regular Game details → | 6.40M viewers | NBC Rating — · Share — | Sep 22, 2012 | No related video |
| 11 | 26–29 · Week 10 · regular Game details → | 6.00M viewers | NBC Rating — · Share — | Nov 3, 2012 | No related video |
| 12 | 21–23 · Week 7 · regular Game details → | 6.00M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Oct 13, 2012 | |
| 13 | 21–6 · Week 11 · regular Game details → | 5.80M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 10, 2012 | No related video |
| 14 | 24–42 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 5.20M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Dec 1, 2012 | No related video |
| 15 | 13–20 · Week 7 · regular Game details → | 5.20M viewers | NBC Rating — · Share — | Oct 13, 2012 | No related video |
| 16 | 38–63 · Week 6 · regular Game details → | 5.20M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 6, 2012 | No related video |
| 17 | 31–70 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 5.10M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Dec 1, 2012 | |
| 18 | 37–20 · Week 3 · regular Game details → | 5.10M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Sep 15, 2012 | No related video |
| 19 | 17–16 · Week 5 · regular Game details → | 5.00M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 29, 2012 | No related video |
| 20 | 20–3 · Week 3 · regular Game details → | 5.00M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 15, 2012 | No related video |
| 21 | 24–27 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 4.90M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Nov 30, 2012 | No related video |
| 22 | 21–14 · Week 12 · regular Game details → | 4.90M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 17, 2012 | No related video |
| 23 | 11–44 · Week 8 · regular Game details → | 4.90M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Oct 20, 2012 | |
| 24 | 33–20 · Week 8 · regular Game details → | 4.80M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 20, 2012 | No related video |
| 25 | 37–49 · Week 4 · regular Game details → | 4.80M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 22, 2012 |
Coverage and methodology
This is a research archive, not a complete Nielsen census. It includes matched records from CFBTrack’s collected sources; early seasons and some networks are partial. Rejected, unresolved, and below-confidence matches are excluded. Duplicate measurements for one outlet are resolved by match confidence, then distinct matched broadcast outlets are combined into the game audience before ranking.