Which college football programs were most-watched in 2025?

Zach Miller

6 min read

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Dec 6, 2025

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College football TV viewership continued to soar in 2025.

Some of that increase can be attributed to changes in the way Nielsen calculates viewership, but there’s no question: College football is as popular as it’s ever been.

As I’ve done the past several years, I’ve listed each school’s average game viewership for the 2024 regular season based on available data.

Below that, I listed every game that garnered at least 4 million viewers — a benchmark number in the eyes of TV networks. I also took a look at which TV windows were the most popular this season.

As you view these lists, remember that many factors can impact TV viewership, including game time, channel, competitiveness and what else is on TV at the same time. Outliers can also significantly impact averages, especially in a small sample size like this one.

For a larger sample size, take a look at averages for the last five years.

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Ranking the most-watched college football programs in 2025

The numbers next to each school indicate the average number of viewers per week for a 12-week season.

Streaming numbers are included if available. Games with no available data are counted as zero.

1. Alabama — 7.01M
2. Georgia — 6.17M
3. Texas — 5.78M
4. Ohio State — 5.68M
5. Oklahoma — 4.91M
6. LSU — 4.283M
7. Michigan — 4.278M
8. Texas A&M — 3.57M
9. Mississippi — 3.28M
10. Notre Dame — 3.20M
11. Florida — 3.13M
12. Miami FL — 3.07M
13. Tennessee — 3.06M
14. Oregon — 2.96M
15. Penn State — 2.72M
16. Florida State — 2.37M
17. Auburn — 2.23M
18. Vanderbilt — 2.09M
19. Georgia Tech — 2.06M
20. Missouri — 2.01M
21. Clemson — 1.94M
22. Indiana — 1.91M
23. Nebraska — 1.82M
24. South Carolina — 1.73M
25. Southern Cal — 1.69M
26. BYU — 1.66M
27. Colorado — 1.63M
28. Iowa — 1.62M
29. Texas Tech — 1.47M
30. Washington — 1.46M
31. Wisconsin — 1.44M
32. Illinois — 1.40M
33. Iowa State — 1.31M
34. Arkansas — 1.25M
35. Navy — 1.24M
36. UCLA — 1.18M
37. TCU — 1.13M
38. Pittsburgh — 1.07M
39. Kentucky — 1.03M
40. Utah — 990K
41. Syracuse — 969K
42. North Carolina — 952K
43. Cincinnati — 947K
44. Minnesota — 937K
45. Virginia Tech — 911K
46. Army — 896K
47. Kansas State — 795K
48. Louisville — 787K
49. Mississippi State — 773K
50. Virginia — 762K
51. Michigan State — 689K
52. Arizona State — 676K
53. Rutgers — 633K
54. Stanford — 583K
55. NC State — 551K
56. California — 543K
57. Houston -529K
58. Duke — 512K
59. South Florida — 507K
60. Maryland — 497K
61. Kansas — 468K
62. Northwestern — 447K
63. Wake Forest — 431K
64. Oklahoma State — 414.4K
65. Oregon State — 413.9K
66. Memphis — 405K
67. Washington State — 400K
68. Purdue — 396K
69. SMU — 393K
70. Arizona — 391K
71. West Virginia — 369K
72. Boise State — 338K
73. San Jose State — 313K
74. Delaware — 307K
75. Tulane — 242K
76. Baylor — 240K
77. UCF — 230K
78. East Carolina — 223K
79. Air Force — 201K
80. UTSA — 195K
81. North Texas — 189K
82. Fresno State — 188K
83. Nevada — 187K
84. Tulsa — 181K
85. Marshall — 173K
86. Boston College — 170K
87. Utah State — 168K
88. Charlotte — 154K
89. James Madison — 134K
90. Arkansas State — 132K
91. Temple — 127K
92. Wyoming — 112K
93. Miami OH — 102K
94. Ohio — 90K
95. Middle Tennseee — 88K
96. Western Michigan — 86K
97. Toledo — 82.3K
98. Rice — 81.7K
99. Southern Miss — 79K
100. Jacksonville State — 76K
101. Louisiana — 75K
102. Hawaii — 72K
103. South Alabama — 63K
104. Northern Illinois — 51K
105. Old Dominion — 48K
106. Troy — 47K
107. San Diego State — 45K
108. Eastern Michigan — 43K
109. Georgia State — 38K
110. Kennesaw State — 35K
111. Buffalo — 33K
112. Georgia Southern — 30.4K
113. Louisiana Tech — 29.5K
114. Missouri State — 28K
115. App State— 27.4K
116. FIU — 27.4K
117. Coastal Carolina — 26.8K
118. Sam Houston — 24.6K
119. UAB — 24.6K
120. Texas State — 22K
121. Ball State — 21K
122. Kent State — 20K
123. Central Michigan — 19K
124. Massachusetts — 16.3K
125. FAU — 15.8K
126. Bowling Green — 12K
127. Akron — 11K
128. UNLV — 6.2K
129. Liberty — 5.6K
130. UTEP — 4.2K
131. Western Kentucky — 3.9K

There was no available viewer data for any Colorado State, Connecticut, New Mexico, New Mexico State or ULM games.

*The averages for Army and Navy were updated after their Dec. 13 game.

The 2025 “4 million club”

There were a whopping 67 games that broke 4 million viewers during the 2025 regular season (and Army-Navy will be added):

1. Ohio State at Michigan — 18.42M
2. Texas at Ohio State — 16.62M
3. Texas A&M at Texas — 13.04M
4. Georgia at Tennessee — 12.58M
5. Alabama at Auburn — 11.31M
6. Notre Dame at Miami — 10.80M
7. Alabama at Florida State — 10.66M
8. Oklahoma at Alabama — 10.48M
9. LSU at Clemson — 10.45M
10. Texas at Georgia — 10.43M
11. Alabama at Georgia — 10.42M
12. Mississippi at Georgia — 9.79M
13. Michigan at Oklahoma — 9.67M
14. Oklahoma vs. Texas — 8.73M
15. Georgia at Georgia Tech — 8.72M
16. Oregon at Penn State — 8.50M
17. Tennessee at Alabama — 8.01M
18. Alabama at South Carolina — 7.84M
19. Army vs. Navy — 7.84M
20. Georgia vs. Florida — 7.79M
21. Florida at LSU — 7.64M
22. LSU at Alabama — 7.54M
23. Penn State at Ohio State — 7.19M
24. Alabama at Missouri — 6.99M
25. Texas A&M at LSU — 6.76M
26. LSU at Mississippi — 6.69M
27. Georgia at Auburn — 6.69M
28. Mississippi at Oklahoma — 6.55M
29. Florida at Miami — 6.46M
30. Vanderbilt at Alabama — 6.41M
31. LSU at Oklahoma — 6.38M
32. Texas A&M at Notre Dame — 6.20M
33. Auburn at Oklahoma — 6.12M
34. TCU at North Carolina — 6.07M
35. Miami at Florida State — 6.03M
36. Indiana at Penn State — 6.03M
37. LSU at Vanderbilt — 5.94M
38. Arkansas at Texas — 5.61M
39. Indiana at Oregon — 5.59M
40. Virginia Tech vs. South Carolina — 5.43M
41. USC at Oregon — 5.43M
42. Oregon at Iowa — 5.37M
43. Missouri at Oklahoma — 5.37M
44. Michigan at Nebraska — 5.30M
45. Ohio State at Illinois — 5.28M
46. Ohio State at Washington — 5.23M
47. Mississippi at Mississippi State — 5.23M
48. Texas A&M at Missouri — 4.87M
49. Oklahoma at Tennessee — 4.81M
50. Mississippi at Kentucky — 4.78M
51. Clemson at Georgia Tech — 4.76M
52. Tennessee at Florida — 4.76M
53. USC at Notre Dame — 4.64M
54. Wisconsin at Michigan — 4.63M
55. Wisconsin at Alabama — 4.51M
56. Vanderbilt at Texas — 4.51M
57. Iowa State vs. Kansas State — 4.47M (Week 0 in Ireland)
58. Florida State at Virginia — 4.39M
59. Washington at Michigan — 4.32M
60. Iowa at Iowa State — 4.28M
61. South Carolina at Texas A&M — 4.28M
62. Oregon at Washington — 4.27M
63. Notre Dame at Arkansas — 4.26M
64. USC at Illinois — 4.12M
65. Rutgers at Ohio State — 4.06M
66. Texas Tech at Utah — 4.04M
67. Ohio State at Wisconsin — 4.03M
68. Vanderbilt at Tennessee — 4.01M

There were 41 teams that played in at least one game that cracked 4 million viewers:

10 — Alabama

8 — Oklahoma

7 — Georgia, LSU, Ohio State

6 — Texas

5 — Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas A&M

4 — Florida, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt

3 — Auburn, Florida State, Miami, Missouri, Penn State, South Carolina, USC, Washington, Wisconsin

2 — Arkansas, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State

1 — Army, Kansas State, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Navy, Nebraska, North Carolina, Rutgers, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah, Virginia, Virginia Tech

Most popular TV windows

Of the 68 games that broke 4 million viewers, 60 were played on Saturdays. Here were most popular viewing windows for Saturday games:

ABC 7:30 p.m. — 14 games

ABC 3:30 p.m. — 14 games

FOX noon — 11 games

CBS 3:30 p.m. — 8 games

ABC noon — 7 games

NBC 7:30 p.m. — 3 games

The three ABC slots were mostly SEC games, and the FOX noon, CBS 3:30 p.m. and NBC 7:30 p.m. slots were mostly Big Ten games.

Looking for data from previous seasons? Click the links below.

2024
2023
2022
2021
2015–19