2025 TV Ratings

The SEC dominated the ratings. But the raw ratings don't tell you much beyond which programs were: 1) highly ranked; 2) played on ABC; and 3) played in the best time slots. So here's a further breakdown:

Source for all data.

A few notes:

1. Week 1 had absurd ratings that were over 50% higher across the top games than the average for the rest of the season, and it grossly inflated viewership numbers for those teams. Fans were hungry for the return of college football, and everyone's national championship dreams were alive and well. You will see below that the ratings from this week stick out like a sore thumb.

2. Nobody is tuning in to watch the bottom 75% of the B1G.

3. Nobody is tuning in to watch the Big 12, period.

4. The SEC dominated the ratings.

5. The YouTube TV-Disney dispute affected viewership numbers for Week 11 (estimated 15-35% viewership loss).

6. The B1G seems to have realized it was a losing battle to put its top game agains the SEC's so they put their best game at noon every single week.

Now onto some numbers (in millions):

1. Top Performing Games on network early slot:

1. Texas-Ohio State 16.62 (Week 1 monster)
2. Penn State-Ohio State 7.19
3. Alabama-Missouri 6.99
4. Ole Miss-Oklahoma 6.55
5. Indiana-Penn State 6.03

2. Top Performing Games on network afternoon slot:

1. Georgia-Tennessee 12.58
2. Alabama-Florida State 10.66 (Week 1 monster)
3. Oklahoma-Alabama 10.48
4. Ole Miss-Georgia 9.79
5. Oklahoma-Texas 8.73

3. Top Performing Games on network night slot:

1. Notre Dame-Miami 10.8 (Week 1 monster)
2. LSU-Clemson 10.45 (Week 1 monster)
3. Texas-Georgia 10.43
4. Alabama-Georgia 10.42
5. Michigan-Oklahoma 9.67

4. Top Performing Games on ESPN early slot:

1. Clemson-Georgia Tech 4.76
2. Iowa-Kansas State 4.47 (Week 1 monster)
3. South Carolina-Texas A&M 4.28
4. Syracuse-Clemson 3.39
5. Georgia-Mississippi State 2.32

5. Top Performing Games on ESPN afternoon slot:

1. Virginia Tech-South Carolina 5.43 (Week 1 monster)
2. Texas-Florida 3.98
3. Missouri-Vanderbilt 3.07
4. Auburn-Texas A&M 2.47
5. Notre Dame-Boston College 1.73

6. Top Performing Games on ESPN night slot:

1. TCU-North Carolina 6.07 (Week 1 monster)
2. Florida State-Virginia 4.39
3. Colorado-Houston 2.94
4. Kentucky-Texas 2.64
5. Florida-Texas A&M 2.62

7. Top Performing Games on ESPN2 all slots:

1. Missouri-Kansas 1.83
2. Arizona State-Colorado 1.11
3. Iowa State-Cincinnati 1.11
4. South Florida-North Texas 1.1
5. Syracuse-Clemson 1.06

8. Worst Performing Games on network early slot:

1. Army-Air Force 1.03
2. Navy-Air Force 1.38
3. Arkansas-Memphis 2.11
4. Syracuse-Tennessee 2.59
5. UCLA-Indiana 3.02

9. Worst Performing Games on network afternoon slot:

1. UCF-Texas Tech 1.4
2. Minnesota-Iowa 1.6
3. Syracuse-Notre Dame 1.89
4. Maryland-Wisconsin 2.0
5. Nevada-Penn State 2.24

10. Worst Performing Games on network night slot:

1. Washington State-Oregon State .82
2. Washington-UCLA 1.62
3. Washington-Washington State 1.65
4. Northwestern-USC 1.91
5. BYU-Utah 1.97

Not worth doing the worst performing ESPN games - it's just a list of bad G5 games.