Audience archive
Most-Watched College Football Games of 2018
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 | 44–16 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 25.3M viewers | ESPN Megacast Rating — · Share — | Jan 8, 2019 | |
| 2 | 34–45 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 19.1M viewers | ESPN/ESPN2 Rating — · Share — | Dec 30, 2018 | |
| 3 | 35–28 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 17.5M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Dec 1, 2018 | |
| 4 | 3–30 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 16.8M viewers | ESPN/ESPN2 Rating — · Share — | Dec 29, 2018 | |
| 5 | 23–28 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 16.8M viewers | ESPN/ESPN2 Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2019 | |
| 6 | 39–62 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 13.3M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Nov 24, 2018 | |
| 7 | 28–21 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 13.3M viewers | ESPN/ESPN2 Rating — · Share — | Jan 2, 2019 | |
| 8 | 29–0 · Week 10 · regular Game details → | 11.5M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 4, 2018 | |
| 9 | 27–39 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 10.3M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Dec 1, 2018 | |
| 10 | 27–26 · Week 5 · regular Game details → | 9.28M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 29, 2018 | |
| 11 | 21–52 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 9.13M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 24, 2018 | No related video |
| 12 | 24–45 · Week 14 · regular Game details → | 8.66M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Dec 2, 2018 | No related video |
| 13 | 40–32 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 8.47M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2019 | |
| 14 | 41–15 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 8.37M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Dec 29, 2018 | |
| 15 | 10–17 · Week 15 · regular Game details → | 8.05M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Dec 8, 2018 | No related video |
| 16 | 24–17 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 7.81M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 25, 2018 | No related video |
| 17 | 27–24 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 7.71M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2019 | No related video |
| 18 | 40–28 · Week 3 · regular Game details → | 7.33M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 16, 2018 | No related video |
| 19 | 17–24 · Week 1 · regular Game details → | 7.09M viewers | NBC Rating — · Share — | Sep 1, 2018 | No related video |
| 20 | 17–33 · Week 1 · regular Game details → | 6.55M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Sep 2, 2018 | No related video |
| 21 | 20–49 · Week 8 · regular Game details → | 6.37M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 20, 2018 | No related video |
| 22 | 17–36 · Week 9 · regular Game details → | 6.35M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Oct 27, 2018 | |
| 23 | 13–38 · Week 7 · regular Game details → | 6.10M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 13, 2018 | No related video |
| 24 | 22–21 · Week 3 · regular Game details → | 5.94M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Sep 15, 2018 | No related video |
| 25 | 52–51 · Week 12 · regular Game details → | 5.68M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 17, 2018 | 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.