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College Football TV Ratings: Breaking down ABC's dominant 2025 season

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz3 hours agoNickSchultz_7
ESPN College Football
© Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Last year, amid strong ratings, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey called the first couple months of the league’s media deal a “long touchdown pass” for the league. That trend is continuing in Year 2.

Through the first two months of the 2025 college football season, ABC has emerged as the big TV ratings winner. Heading into Week 10, the network has 21 of the top 25 games this year, according to data compiled by On3.

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But the early window has been especially successful for ABC. The network is averaging 4.5 million viewers in the Noon ET slot, trailing only FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff at 5.4 million. FOX notably had the most-watched game of the 2025 season in that window in Week 1 when Ohio State’s win over Texas averaged 16.6 million viewers in the season opener. That made it the most-watched Week 1 game on record.

Since then, ABC has the edge. The network is averaging 4.7 million viewers since Week 1 while FOX is at 4.0 million. ABC has had the most-watched Noon ET game five times this year, as well as three of the top games in that window through Week 9.

College football viewership is also up as a whole this year. As of Week 8, FOX announced ratings are up 36% for its Big Noon Saturday window after Washington at Michigan averaged 4.3 million viewers. By comparing Nielsen Big Data + Panel figures from last year, college football viewership went up more than 5% through Week 8, Nielsen said.

More College Football TV Ratings notes

Six games have topped 10 million viewers so far this year, as well – led by the 16.6 million who watched Texas at Ohio State in Week 1. ABC has the other five such games.

The SEC began its media rights deal with Disney last year, and the SEC on ABC takes place in the 3:30 p.m. ET window. To date, four of those matchups are in the Top 10 most-watched college football games of the season, according to data compiled by On3. A week 3 matchup between Georgia and Tennessee leads that charge with 12.6 million viewers for the Bulldogs’ thrilling overtime victory over the Vols.

Of course, SEC teams aren’t the only ones to play in the most-watched games of the year. Miami’s Week 1 win over Notre Dame is the third-most watched so far, and NBC announced Oregon’s double-overtime win over Penn State averaged 8.5 million viewers on NBC and Peacock – making it the 10th-most watched of the season.