College Championship Game A Ratings Blockbuster

ESPN’s Monday night telecast of the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T -- Ohio State’s 42-20 victory over Oregon at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas – averaged 33,395,00 viewers and an 18.2 US household rating, according to Nielsen, delivering both the largest audience and highest rating in cable television history.

The National Championship game surpassed both College Football Playoff Semifinals from Jan. 1: the Allstate Sugar Bowl (28,271,000 viewers) and The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual (28,164,000 viewers), establishing the new most-watched cable program. In all, the first three games of the new College Football Playoff format (the beginning of ESPN’s 12-year agreement) are now the Top 3 most-viewed programs in cable history.

An estimated 62,900 listeners tuned in on average to the National Championship game on the ESPN Audio Streaming Network, a projected increase of 86% from last year’s BCS National Championship.

Together, the CFB Playoff Semifinals and National Championship combined to average 29,812,000 viewers and a 16.0 US household rating.  Additionally, ESPN has now televised the Top 20 programs in cable history.

In the primary home markets of the two schools, the telecast delivered a 51.2 in Columbus, the No. 1 overall market, and a 37.6 in Portland, fourth overall. The top 10 metered markets (in addition to those of the competing teams) are the following: Columbus, Dayton (43.8), Cleveland (41.3), Portland, Birmingham (36.1), Cincinnati (26.5), Jacksonville (25.7), Knoxville (25.5), Greenville (24.1) and Atlanta (23.0).