Audience archive
Most-Watched College Football Games of 2020
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 | 49–28 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 19.1M viewers | ESPN Mega Rating — · Share — | Jan 2, 2021 | |
| 2 | 14–31 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 18.9M viewers | ESPN Mega Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2021 | |
| 3 | 24–52 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 18.6M viewers | ESPN Mega Rating — · Share — | Jan 12, 2021 | |
| 4 | 40–47 · Week 10 · regular Game details → | 10.1M viewers | NBC Rating — · Share — | Nov 8, 2020 | |
| 5 | 34–10 · Week 16 · regular Game details → | 9.92M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Dec 19, 2020 | |
| 6 | 24–41 · Week 7 · regular Game details → | 9.61M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Oct 18, 2020 | |
| 7 | 52–46 · Week 16 · regular Game details → | 8.92M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Dec 20, 2020 | |
| 8 | 21–24 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 8.73M viewers | ESPN Mega Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2021 | |
| 9 | 10–22 · Week 16 · regular Game details → | 8.03M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Dec 19, 2020 | |
| 10 | 41–27 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 7.58M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Jan 3, 2021 | |
| 11 | 17–34 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 6.68M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Jan 2, 2021 | |
| 12 | 13–42 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 6.66M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 28, 2020 | No related video |
| 13 | 38–25 · Week 9 · regular Game details → | 6.53M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 31, 2020 | No related video |
| 14 | 35–42 · Week 12 · regular Game details → | 6.36M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Nov 21, 2020 | |
| 15 | 44–28 · Week 10 · regular Game details → | 6.34M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Nov 7, 2020 | |
| 16 | 17–52 · Week 8 · regular Game details → | 6.18M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Oct 24, 2020 | No related video |
| 17 | 31–17 · Week 13 · regular Game details → | 6.08M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 27, 2020 | No related video |
| 18 | 20–55 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 5.77M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Dec 31, 2020 | |
| 19 | 21–44 · Week 6 · regular Game details → | 5.77M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Oct 10, 2020 | No related video |
| 20 | 45–31 · Week 11 · regular Game details → | 5.14M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Nov 14, 2020 | No related video |
| 21 | 49–24 · Week 8 · regular Game details → | 5.12M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Oct 24, 2020 | No related video |
| 22 | 0–15 · Week 15 · regular Game details → | 4.91M viewers | CBS Rating — · Share — | Dec 12, 2020 | No related video |
| 23 | 63–48 · Week 6 · regular Game details → | 4.89M viewers | ESPN Rating — · Share — | Oct 10, 2020 | No related video |
| 24 | 45–53 · Week 6 · regular Game details → | 4.81M viewers | FOX Rating — · Share — | Oct 10, 2020 | No related video |
| 25 | 19–35 · Week 1 · postseason Game details → | 4.78M viewers | ABC Rating — · Share — | Jan 1, 2021 |
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.