ABC capped off a successful first year as the SEC’s exclusive media partner with a strong showing for the championship game.
Saturday’s SEC Championship game between Texas and Georgia averaged 16.6 million viewers, per ESPN PR. That’s down 5% versus Alabama-Georgia in the SEC Championship game last season on CBS, which averaged 17.52 million viewers. Per Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, Saturday’s game was the fourth-largest SEC Championship game on record behind last year, Alabama-Georgia in 2018, and Alabama-Florida in 2009.
ABC scored its most-watched Conference Champ slate since ’14 (8.4M avg. viewers)
🏆 @SEC Champ (16.6M): most-watched game of ’24 & 3rd-best reg. season game on record for ESPN platforms
🏆 @ESPNCFB Field Pass: most-viewed CFB alt. cast ever
🏆 #Big12FB (6.9M) & #ACCFCG (6.0M) pic.twitter.com/tEKyE3po3Y— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) December 10, 2024
Georgia’s win was good for the most-watched college football game so far this season, dethroning the two teams’ previous matchup which drew 13.19 million viewers in October. Per Lewis, the SEC Championship game has been the most-watched game of conference championship weekend every year except one dating back to 2008. The lone exception was during the 2020 COVID season when the ACC Championship game drew a bigger audience.
As for the other “Power 2” championship game, the Big Ten Championship between Penn State and Oregon averaged 10.47 million viewers on CBS. That is up 4% versus Michigan-Iowa on Fox last season (10.02 million viewers). Overall, the game ranks as the fifth most-watched so far this college football season. Per usual, the Big Ten Championship competed directly with the ACC’s title game, making it difficult to compete with the SEC Championship viewership.
Speaking of the ACC, Saturday night’s championship game between Clemson and SMU averaged 6.0 million viewers on ABC, down 15% versus Florida State-Louisville last season (7.03 million viewers).
Earlier in the day, the Big 12 Championship game featuring Arizona State and Iowa State averaged 6.9 million viewers on ABC, down 13% from Texas-Oklahoma State last season (7.89 million viewers).
As for conference championship games outside of the Power 4, Friday’s Mountain West Championship game between Boise State and UNLV averaged 3.01 million viewers on Fox, up 139% from the same championship matchup last season (1.26 million viewers), though last year’s game went head-to-head with the SEC Championship game and didn’t have College Football Playoff implications.
The AAC Championship game between Army and Tulane averaged 2.0 million viewers Friday night on ABC. Army’s win increased 7% year-over-year versus SMU-Tulane last season (1.88 million viewers). That game also competed directly with the SEC Championship game.
In total, three of the four Power 4 conference championship games were down year-over-year, with the Big Ten being the lone exception. The four games combined to average 9.99 million viewers this season, down 9% from the same four conference championship games last season (11.03 million viewers). Of course, last season’s Pac-12 Championship game commanded a strong audience in its final season for Washington-Oregon (9.25 million viewers), but that inventory no longer exists.
