Audience archive
Most-Watched College Football Games of 2016
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 | 35–31 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 25.3M viewers | ESPN Megacast Rating — · Share — | Jan 10, 2017 | |
| 2 | 7–24 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 19.3M viewers | ESPNESPN2 Rating — · Share — | Dec 31, 2016 | |
| 3 | 0–31 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 19.2M viewers | ESPNESPN2 Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2017 | |
| 4 | 27–30 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 16.8M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 26, 2016 | |
| 5 | 52–49 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 15.7M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Jan 2, 2017 | |
| 6 | 32–33 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 11.5M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Dec 31, 2016 | |
| 7 | 54–16 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 11.1M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Dec 3, 2016 | |
| 8 | 47–50 · Week 1 · regular Game details → | 10.9M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 4, 2016 | No related video |
| 9 | 10–0 · Week 10 · regular Game details → | 10.4M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 6, 2016 | No related video |
| 10 | 19–35 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 9.52M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Jan 3, 2017 | |
| 11 | 36–42 · Week 5 · regular Game details → | 9.29M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 2, 2016 | |
| 12 | 31–38 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 9.19M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Dec 4, 2016 | |
| 13 | 30–23 · Week 7 · regular Game details → | 8.96M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 16, 2016 | |
| 14 | 14–33 · Week 8 · regular Game details → | 8.46M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Oct 22, 2016 | |
| 15 | 34–45 · Week 1 · regular Game details → | 8.35M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Sep 6, 2016 | No related video |
| 16 | 12–30 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 8.24M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 26, 2016 | No related video |
| 17 | 48–43 · Week 3 · regular Game details → | 8.17M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Sep 17, 2016 | No related video |
| 18 | 6–52 · Week 1 · regular Game details → | 7.94M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 4, 2016 | No related video |
| 19 | 17–21 · Week 15 · regular Game details → | 7.94M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Dec 10, 2016 | No related video |
| 20 | 14–16 · Week 1 · regular Game details → | 7.83M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 3, 2016 | No related video |
| 21 | 7–14 · Week 5 · regular Game details → | 6.85M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 1, 2016 | |
| 22 | 49–10 · Week 7 · regular Game details → | 6.58M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Oct 15, 2016 | |
| 23 | 38–45 · Week 6 · regular Game details → | 6.55M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Oct 8, 2016 | |
| 24 | 21–24 · Week 8 · regular Game details → | 6.48M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 23, 2016 | |
| 25 | 13–14 · Week 11 · regular Game details → | 6.44M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 13, 2016 | No related video |
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.