ESPN reveals 2023 College Football Playoff, New Year's Six bowls recorded record viewership

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NCAA Football: Western Kentucky at Wisconsin — Aug 31, 2018; Madison, WI, USA; ESPN College Football logo on a tv camera prior to the game between the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

While college football is changing by the moment, the sport has never been more popular. On Wednesday, ESPN announced the network recorded record viewership for the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six bowls. In the final edition of the four-team playoff, ESPN went out with a bang and enjoyed the bowl season.

“ESPN’s premier presentation of the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six reached multi-year viewership highs and record audience numbers across ESPN platforms,” ESPN said in a statement. “ESPN platforms’ full slate of college football bowls this season averaged 4.6 million viewers across 40 total games, up 5% year-over-year.

“The complete seven-game College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six averaged 15.1 million viewers, the best in five years and fifth highest in the 10-year history of the College Football Playoff, up 12% year-over-year.”

A great bowl season for ESPN and the national championship game capped it all off. An average of 25.05 million viewers watched Michigan take down Washington, the biggest number since 2020 when Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers beat a Trevor Lawrence-led Clemson.

Probably to no surprise, Detroit (28.4) was the top local market, with Seattle-Tacoma (22.1) finishing second. ESPN takes into consideration all of the broadcasts available on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU. Being the home base of the two teams playing in the national championship, Michigan and Washington fans tuned in.

But so did Ohio State fans. Columbus tied for third (with Birmingham) when it came to local market ratings at 20.4. A ton of Buckeyes were watching and likely hoping Washington would be able to save them from Michigan winning a title. Unfortunately, they went to bed disappointed, having the miserable feeling of watching an arch-rival celebrate as the kings of college football.

Looking at non-CFP/NY6 bowl games, the Citrus Bowl has the largest audience with an average of 6.8 million viewers. The debut of Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava brought a ton of interest but playing on ABC on New Year’s Day before the playoff games certainly helped.

The most discussed bowl game on social media was the Pop Tarts Bowl, averaging 4.3 million viewers while on ESPN. Yes, the game between Kansas State and NC State was a good one. However, everyone was there for a laugh during the postgame celebration. Watching Chris Kleiman and Avery Johnson eat the edible mascot after the game gained a ton of attention.

ESPN is in talks with the College Football Playoff over a new contract for the beginning of the 12-team era. They closed out the four-team era in style and if the deal with the CFP goes through, the numbers should be good once again this time next year.