Biggest tracked game
20.0M
2011 LSU at Alabama on CBS
Audience Intelligence
College Football TV Ratings & Viewership Lab
Compare rated college football audiences by game, team, conference, network, and era using Sports Media Watch rows matched to CFBTrack games.
Rated Sample
4,848 games
2008 – 2025 with 7 rows still flagged for review.
Average Audience
2.11M
Median game is 1.22M across 18 seasons.
Audience Context
Rated-game rows are separated from schedule coverage so audience comparisons stay tied to measured broadcasts.
Most Watched
20.0M
LSU at Alabama on CBS.
Top Team Draw
Alabama
6.96M average across 161 rated appearances.
Rated Games
4,848
Sports Media Watch audience rows matched to CFBTrack games.
Median Audience
1.22M
Average audience is 2.11M in the active scope.
10M+ Games
133
Eight-figure TV audiences in the rated-game sample.
Coverage Range
2008 – 2025
Audience rows are tracked separately from schedule-only media coverage.
Audience research
TV ratings and viewership lab
Use Sports Media Watch audience rows to compare games, teams, conferences, and network draw.
Early seasons include partial Sports Media Watch packages and selected articles, so year-over-year comparisons should account for coverage depth.
Regular season4,848 gamesAll rated games5,328 gamesCFP era4,636 gamesPostseason480 games10M+ club133 gamesNetwork TV1,565 games
Rated games
4,848
2008-2025 with 7 rows in review.
Average viewers
2.11M
Median audience is 1.22M.
Most watched
20.0M
LSU at Alabama
Million-plus games
2,662
0.0% of rated rows are postseason.
Team and network comparisons use matched rated-game rows from the active scope; regular-season filters use the dataset's regular season_type and team brand-lift baselines exclude direct head-to-head games.
Share hooks
Stats built for arguments
Fast cuts from the active filter, ready to copy into a post or use as a research lead.
Top team draw
Alabama
6.96M average across 161 rated games
Best repeat matchup
13.4M
Georgia vs Texas, 3 tracked games
Regular-season king
20.0M
2011 LSU at Alabama on CBS
10M+ club
79
Games reached at least eight-figure audiences
Top conference draw
Pacific-10 Conference
5.66M average by team appearance
Top outlet
ESPN
1.99M average across 1092 games
Audience timeline
Coverage depth and audience pull by season
The bars show average audience while the row count keeps partial early-season samples visible.
2008
9.43M · 6 games
2009
6.61M · 42 games
2010
5.92M · 47 games
2011
5.97M · 36 games
2012
2.79M · 179 games
2013
1.99M · 346 games
2014
1.89M · 360 games
2015
1.92M · 361 games
2016
2.00M · 332 games
2017
1.89M · 350 games
2018
2.10M · 306 games
2019
2.12M · 324 games
2020
1.83M · 265 games
2021
1.96M · 338 games
2022
2.01M · 344 games
2023
1.77M · 443 games
2024
1.79M · 434 games
2025
2.29M · 335 games
TV draw rankings
Programs that move the number
Average audience by team appearance, with rated-game counts beside every rank so small samples stay visible.
| Rank | Team | Avg | Games | 10M+ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Alabama Southeastern Conference | 6.96M | 161 | 33 | |
| #2 | Ohio State Big Ten Conference | 6.08M | 151 | 17 | |
| #3 | Georgia Southeastern Conference | 5.59M | 133 | 15 | |
| #4 | Michigan Big Ten Conference | 5.30M | 136 | 13 | |
| #5 | LSU Southeastern Conference | 4.80M | 142 | 13 | |
| #6 | Auburn Southeastern Conference | 4.46M | 120 | 10 | |
| #7 | Florida Southeastern Conference | 4.43M | 127 | 5 | |
| #8 | Notre Dame NCAA Division I FBS independent schools | 4.04M | 159 | 6 | |
| #9 | Tennessee Southeastern Conference | 4.02M | 100 | 4 | |
| #10 | Texas Big 12 Conference | 3.88M | 146 | 10 | |
| #11 | Penn State Big Ten Conference | 3.72M | 125 | 1 | |
| #12 | Oklahoma Big 12 Conference | 3.67M | 152 | 2 | |
| #13 | Texas A&M Big 12 Conference | 3.67M | 108 | 2 | |
| #14 | Florida State Atlantic Coast Conference | 3.56M | 128 | 4 | |
| #15 | Oregon Pac-12 Conference | 3.23M | 128 | 2 |
Network ranks
Top team draws by broadcast network
Average audience by team appearance on ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, with rated-game counts shown next to each leader.
ABC
- #1 Alabama7.89M26 games
- #2 Georgia7.63M26 games
- #3 LSU6.75M20 games
- #4 Texas A&M6.69M11 games
- #5 Auburn6.54M10 games
CBS
- #1 Alabama8.70M79 games
- #2 Florida State7.49M1 games
- #3 LSU7.29M45 games
- #4 Auburn7.02M44 games
- #5 Georgia6.68M61 games
FOX
- #1 Alabama7.82M2 games
- #2 Ohio State7.71M50 games
- #3 Michigan7.41M38 games
- #4 Penn State5.99M20 games
- #5 Wisconsin5.20M22 games
NBC
- #1 Clemson6.64M2 games
- #2 Texas A&M6.20M1 games
- #3 Oregon6.20M4 games
- #4 Ohio State5.73M7 games
- #5 Colorado5.67M1 games