ESPN broadcasted both CFP semifinal matchups on New Year’s Day, the Rose Bowl between the Michigan Wolverines and the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Sugar Bowl between the Washington Huskies and the Texas Longhorns. Both impressed in a big way in terms of ratings for the network.
The Rose Bowl game was particularly remarkable in terms of viewership, as it attracted an average of 27.2 million viewers – the highest among all the semifinal matchups since the beginning of the CFP in the 2014-15 season.
Furthermore, it is ranked as one of the top 10 cable telecasts of all time and was the most-watched non-NFL sporting event since 2018, which certainly speaks to the excitement that the matchup between the two blue-blood programs produced.
🎊The #CFBPlayoff Semis scored 22.6M viewers
🌹27.2M viewers tuned in for @UMichFootball & @AlabamaFTBL
– Best Semi since Year 1
– Top 10 cable telecast all-time
– Peak: 32.8M🏆18.4M watched @UW_Football & @TexasFootball, the 4th-highest Sugar Bowl audience in 20 years pic.twitter.com/0UzB0z0Z5J
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) January 2, 2024
The Sugar Bowl had lower viewership than the Rose Bowl but still had an average of 18.4 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched Sugar Bowl since 2004.
It is an overall slight increase from last year’s CFP semifinal games, which brought in an average of 21.7 million viewers overall for the Fiesta Bowl and the Peach Bowl.
More importantly for ESPN, it solidifies that interest appears to be growing for the CFP semifinal matchups. Prior to last year’s drastic increase, the ratings had been largely floundering for the games since 2017.
It will be interesting to see how this year’s National Championship, which will take place on Jan. 8 between Michigan and Washington, ends up doing in terms of viewership compared to the semifinal matchups.
[ESPN PR]
