Which college football programs were most-watched in 2023?
A lot will change in the college football world in 2024. We’ll get a 12-team playoff for the first time, and 15 FBS teams will change conferences.
TV revenue is the biggest factor driving these changes, and the numbers are in for the 2023 season.
Below, I’ve listed each school’s average game viewership for the 2023 regular season. And below that, I’ve listed every game that garnered at least 4 million viewers — a benchmark number in the eyes of TV networks.
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 sway averages, especially in a small sample size like this one.
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Ranking the most-watched college football programs in 2023
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.
- Ohio State — 5.55M
- Alabama — 5.08M
- Michigan — 4.78M
- Colorado — 4.50M
- Georgia — 3.95M
- Texas — 3.61M
- Florida State — 3.58M
- Notre Dame — 3.46M
- Penn State — 3.31M
- LSU — 2.85M
- Southern Cal — 2.83M
- Washington — 2.68M
- Tennessee — 2.67M
- Oklahoma — 2.40M
- Nebraska — 2.39M
- Florida — 2.12M
- Auburn — 2.074M
- Oregon — 2.067M
- Texas A&M — 2.062M
- Oregon State — 1.74M
- Mississippi — 1.71M
- Clemson — 1.70M
- Missouri — 1.63M
- Iowa — 1.60M
- Utah — 1.53M
- Michigan State — 1.48M
- Wisconsin — 1.45M
- TCU — 1.42M
- Maryland — 1.41M
- Minnesota — 1.37M
- Louisville — 1.36M
- Miami FL — 1.33M
- Duke — 1.32M
- UCLA — 1.25M
- Kansas — 1.24M
- BYU — 1.21M
- Indiana — 1.18M
- Iowa State — 1.15M
- Oklahoma State — 1.14M
- Arkansas — 1.13M
- West Virginia — 1.095M
- Navy — 1.090M
- Washington State — 1.08M
- Kentucky — 1.04M
- Rutgers — 977K
- North Carolina — 966K
- Texas Tech — 950K
- South Carolina — 900K
- Illinois — 862K
- Mississippi State — 839K
- Colorado State — 814K
- Kansas State — 810K
- Georgia Tech — 766K
- Syracuse — 703K
- Purdue — 694K
- Pittsburgh — 690K
- Army — 683K
- Virginia — 663K
- NC State — 661K
- UCF — 621K
- Boston College — 617K
- Arizona State — 603K
- Houston — 587K
- Stanford — 549K
- Cincinnati — 481K
- Tulane — 480K
- Wake Forest — 464.8K
- Northwestern — 464.7K
- South Florida — 463.7K
- Baylor — 454K
- California — 450K
- Arizona — 434K
- Virginia Tech — 398K
- Boise State — 338K
- Memphis — 336K
- Rice — 316K
- San Jose State — 312K
- Western Kentucky — 305K
- UTSA — 288K
- UNLV — 287K
- Wyoming — 213K
- Vanderbilt — 205K
- SMU — 201K
- Fresno State — 196K
- Massachusetts — 193K
- San Diego State — 192K
- Buffalo — 187K
- Coastal Carolina — 186K
- Bowling Green — 182K
- Air Force — 178K
- Temple — 173K
- Marshall — 146K
- Tulsa — 132K
- UAB — 129K
- Central Michigan — 124K
- James Madison — 123K
- Toledo — 119K
- Georgia State — 112K
- New Mexico — 101K
- UTEP — 96.9K
- Northern Illinois — 96.8K
- Ohio — 94K
- Charlotte — 86K
- Louisiana Tech — 84K
- Arkansas State — 81K
- Georgia Southern — 80K
- New Mexico State — 73K
- North Texas — 71.3K
- Sam Houston — 70.8K
- Eastern Michigan — 67K
- Florida Atlantic — 65K
- Louisiana — 62K
- Appalachian State — 58K
- Troy — 57K
- South Alabama — 55.4K
- Western Michigan — 55.2K
- Utah State — 54.7K
- East Carolina — 53K
- Jacksonville State — 44K
- Miami OH — 43K
- Florida International — 42K
- Akron — 37.3K
- Old Dominion — 36.9K
- Southern Miss — 35.3K
- Nevada — 34.7K
- Kent State — 32K
- Ball State — 28K
- Liberty — 21K
- Middle Tennessee — 12K
- Texas State — 10K
- ULM — 8K
There was no available viewer data for any Connecticut or Hawaii games.
Note: The averages for Navy and Army were updated on Dec. 12 to include their Dec. 9 game.
The 2023 “4 million club”
There were 50 games that broke 4 million viewers during the 2023 regular season:
- Ohio State at Michigan — 19.07M
- Colorado at Oregon — 10.03M
- Ohio State at Notre Dame — 9.98M
- Penn State at Ohio State — 9.96M
- Colorado State at Colorado — 9.30M
- Florida State at LSU — 9.17M
- Michigan at Penn State — 9.16M
- Alabama at Auburn — 9.09M
- LSU at Alabama — 8.82M
- Texas at Alabama — 8.76M
- Nebraska at Colorado — 8.73M
- Tennessee at Alabama — 8.01M
- Oklahoma vs. Texas — 7.87M
- Colorado at TCU — 7.26M
- Southern Cal at Colorado — 7.24M
- Alabama at Texas A&M — 7.23M
- Army vs. Navy — 7.18M
- Oregon at Washington — 7.04M
- Missouri at Georgia — 7.00M
- Florida State at Clemson — 6.71M
- Southern Cal at Notre Dame — 6.43M
- Georgia at Auburn — 6.40M
- Georgia at Florida — 5.95M
- Washington State at Washington — 5.85M
- Georgia at Tennessee — 5.73M
- Michigan at Maryland — 5.43M
- South Carolina at Georgia — 5.42M
- Georgia at Georgia Tech — 5.33M
- Notre Dame at Duke — 5.32M
- Tennessee at Florida — 5.31M
- Utah at Washington — 5.17M
- Notre Dame at Louisville — 5.12M
- Florida State at Florida — 5.07M
- Ohio State at Wisconsin — 4.87M
- Alabama at South Florida — 4.84M
- Mississippi at Georgia — 4.83M
- Washington at Oregon State — 4.73M
- Colorado at UCLA — 4.66M
- Mississippi at Alabama — 4.61M
- Maryland at Ohio State — 4.51M
- Michigan at Nebraska — 4.48M
- Washington at Southern Cal — 4.45M
- Duke vs. Clemson — 4.39M
- Iowa at Nebraska — 4.48M
- Texas A&M at Tennessee — 4.38M
- Miami at Florida State — 4.14M
- Oregon State or Oregon — 4.12M
- Missouri at Arkansas — 4.09M
- Duke at Florida State — 4.08M
- Texas A&M at Miami — 4.02M
There were 40 teams that played in at least one game that cracked 4 million viewers:
7 — Alabama, Georgia
6 — Colorado
5 — Florida State, Ohio State, Washington
4 — Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee
3 — Duke, Florida, Nebraska, Oregon, Southern Cal, Texas A&M
2 — Auburn, Clemson, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Mississippi, Missouri, Oregon State, Penn State, Texas
1 — Arkansas, Army, Colorado State, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Louisville, Navy, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Florida, TCU, UCLA, Utah, Washington State, Wisconsin
Most popular TV windows
Of the 50 games that broke 4 million viewers, 45 were played on Saturdays. Here were most popular viewing windows for Saturday games:
CBS 3:30 p.m. — 10 games
FOX noon — 8 games
ABC 7:30 p.m. — 7 games
ABC 3:30 p.m. — 5 games
ESPN 7 p.m. — 4 games
NBC 7:30 p.m. — 3 games
The CBS 3:30 p.m. window has been an SEC-exclusive window for years but becomes a Big Ten-exclusive window in 2024.
Looking for data from previous years? Click the links below.
