Audience archive
Most-Watched College Football Games of 2017
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 | 26–23 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 28.4M viewers | ESPN,ESPN2,ESPNU Rating — · Share — | Jan 9, 2018 | |
| 2 | 54–48 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 26.9M viewers | ESPN &ESPN2 Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2018 | |
| 3 | 24–6 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 21.5M viewers | ESPN &ESPN2 Rating — · Share — | Jan 2, 2018 | |
| 4 | 14–26 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 13.7M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 25, 2017 | |
| 5 | 28–7 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 13.5M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Dec 2, 2017 | |
| 6 | 27–21 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 12.9M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Dec 3, 2017 | |
| 7 | 7–24 · Week 1 · regular Game details → | 12.6M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 3, 2017 | No related video |
| 8 | 34–24 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 11.7M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Dec 31, 2017 | No related video |
| 9 | 31–20 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 10.5M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Nov 25, 2017 | No related video |
| 10 | 28–35 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 10.2M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Dec 30, 2017 | No related video |
| 11 | 38–39 · Week 9 · regular Game details → | 9.97M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Oct 28, 2017 | |
| 12 | 7–24 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 9.47M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Dec 30, 2017 | |
| 13 | 21–17 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 8.71M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2018 | |
| 14 | 14–13 · Week 15 · regular Game details → | 8.42M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Dec 9, 2017 | No related video |
| 15 | 34–27 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 8.38M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2018 | |
| 16 | 31–16 · Week 2 · regular Game details → | 8.26M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 9, 2017 | |
| 17 | 33–17 · Week 1 · regular Game details → | 7.80M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 2, 2017 | No related video |
| 18 | 17–40 · Week 11 · regular Game details → | 7.41M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 11, 2017 | |
| 19 | 13–42 · Week 8 · regular Game details → | 7.09M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 21, 2017 | No related video |
| 20 | 31–24 · Week 11 · regular Game details → | 7.03M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Nov 12, 2017 | No related video |
| 21 | 10–24 · Week 10 · regular Game details → | 6.73M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 5, 2017 | No related video |
| 22 | 8–41 · Week 11 · regular Game details → | 6.73M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 12, 2017 | |
| 23 | 14–10 · Week 6 · regular Game details → | 6.63M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 7, 2017 | |
| 24 | 17–41 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 5.90M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Dec 2, 2017 | |
| 25 | 3–38 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 5.43M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Dec 3, 2017 |
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.