Viewership for college football’s Championship Weekend of the 2022 season is in, and the most-watched games were down from last season.
Georgia’s win over LSU in the SEC Championship paced the way with 10.894 million viewers on CBS at 4 PM ET, down from an audience of over 15 million for last year’s matchup between Georgia and Alabama. Next was Michigan’s win over Purdue in the Big Ten Championship on Fox, averaging 10.699 million viewers. That’s down from over 11 million for Michigan’s win over Iowa last year.
Kansas State’s OT win over TCU in the Big 12 Championship drew 9.413 million viewers at noon on ABC, up from Baylor-Oklahoma State last year, which averaged just over eight million viewers.
On Friday night, Utah’s win over USC averaged 5.967 million viewers on Fox, up from a little over four million a year ago for Utah-Oregon on ABC.
Viewership flip flopped for the ACC and AAC Championships on ABC this year. In the ACC game, Clemson’s win over North Carolina averaged 3.467 million in primetime on ABC, up from a little over 2.5 million for Pitt-Wake Forest last year. At 4 PM ET on ABC, 2.695 million watched Tulane’s win over UCF in the AAC game, down from a little under 3.5 million for Cincinnati-Houston last year.
The Mountain West Championship between Fresno State and Boise State started an hour later this year, at 4 PM ET, and drew 1.938 million viewers on Fox, up from under a million a year ago for Utah State-San Diego State. The MAC Championship between Toledo and Ohio at noon ET on ESPN averaged 721,000 viewers, down from last year’s Kent State-Northern Illinois matchup. Finally, the Sun Belt Championship between Troy and Coastal Carolina drew 332,000 viewers at 3:30 PM ET on ESPN, down by about 100,000 viewers from Louisiana-Appalachian State last year.
[Data via ShowBuzz Daily, Sports Media Watch]
