ESPN Announces Its TV Ratings For Ohio State vs. Notre Dame
01/22/2025 05:34 PM
The Ohio State Buckeyes won the national championship on Monday night, defeating Notre Dame for their first title since the 2014 season. The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish brought tradition and two massive fanbases to the title game, and the result was a massive ratings win for ESPN.
On Wednesday, the network revealed the viewership numbers for Monday's game, and they were certainly impressive.
According to ESPN PR, the game averaged 22.1 million viewers. That's the highest recorded viewership for any College Football Playoff game this season, which was the first of the 12-team era. The game peaked at 26.1M viewers from 8:30-8:45 PM ET, early in the first part of the game.
The number was lower than last year's rating for the game between Michigan and Washington, which averaged a rating of 25.05 million.
The 2025 #CFBPlayoff#NationalChampionship between @OhioStateFB & @NDFootball topped the CFB postseason charts 📈
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) January 22, 2025
🏆 22.1M viewers
🏆 Most-watched non-NFL sporting event over the past year
🏆 Peaked with 26.1M viewers from 8:30-8:45p ET pic.twitter.com/PEOFgGYmB7
This year's game may have drawn a larger rating if it didn't fall on the day of the presidential inauguration, as some fans may have been wrapped up in the events that took place earlier in the day before the start of the game.
ESPN says that the game was the most-watched non-NFL sporting event of the year, and the most-watched non-NFL event since the 2024 national championship game.
When this year's final four teams were determined, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit called the matchups a "ratings bonanza."
"We could not have paid for a better final four with Notre Dame and Ohio State and Penn State and Texas," Herbstreit said during an episode of "Andy and Ari On3."
"The only one missing is Michigan. So this idea that we want Alabama and Texas A&M and Auburn, are you kidding me? If you're asking us who we'd want, we'll take Ohio State every year, Notre Dame every year. This is a ratings bonanza."
Herbstreit's assessment of the situation seems to be accurate. The national championship was a rousing success for ESPN and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
We'll see if Notre Dame can make their return to the title game next year, and if the 2026 championship game can somehow draw an even bigger rating for ESPN and its family of networks.
Related: Notre Dame Players Allegedly Threatened Reporter After National Title Game
