The final SEC Championship game on CBS led the way among the slate of conference championship games last weekend.
Alabama’s Playoff-altering win over Georgia averaged 17.519 million viewers on Saturday, the most-watched conference championship game of the 2023 season and the most-watched conference championship game since 2018 (another tight Alabama-Georgia game).
CBS Sports delivers the most-watched Conference Championship Game on any network in five years. Alabama’s win over Georgia in the SEC Championship averaged 17.519 million viewers, +61% vs. last year’s game, and peaked with 22.350 million viewers. pic.twitter.com/VX6vI3hYWt
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) December 5, 2023
In primetime, Michigan’s dominant win over Iowa in the Big Ten Championship was the most-watched game in the window, but a distant second to Alabama-Georgia on the day. 10.02 million viewers watched the game on Fox, a slight decline from Michigan’s win over Purdue last season.
As discussed over the weekend, Washington’s win over Oregon on Friday night in the final Pac-12 Championship game averaged 9.25 million viewers on ABC. It’s the largest audience ever for a Pac-12 title game.
At noon, Texas’ win over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship game averaged 7.89 million viewers on ABC. That’s, perhaps surprisingly, down from Kansas State’s overtime win over TCU last year.
Florida State’s rock fight victory over Louisville in the ACC Championship game drew 7.03 million viewers in primetime on ABC, more than doubling the audience for Clemson-UNC last season.
Viewership for the non-Power 5 title games was far lower. SMU-Tulane in the AAC Championship averaged 1.88 million viewers on ABC, head to head with the SEC Championship. Boise State-UNLV in the Mountain West title game averaged 1.26 million viewers on Fox in the same window, while Troy-Appalachian State in the Sun Belt title game averaged just 372,000 on ESPN. At noon, Miami-Toledo in the MAC Championship averaged 1.29 million viewers on ESPN.
[Data via Sports Media Watch]
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.