The Walt Disney Company’s broadcast television network ABC was the most-watched for college football games in September, according to Nielsen data released by the company on Friday.
The network’s presentation of college football games on Saturday evenings average 7.3 million viewers, the Nielsen data showed, an increase of 123 percent compared to September 2023.
ABC aired six of the top seven most-watched games in September, and seven of the top 10 college football games that month, the network said.
Through September, ABC averaged 5.5 million viewers with college football games, marking the network’s best five-week run since 2016 and the second-best since 2011.
The top college football game aired on ABC was the September 28 match-up between Georgia and Alabama, which drew 12 million viewers in prime-time. It was also the most-watched college football game that month across any network. Other broadcasters that air college football games include Comcast’s NBC Universal, Warner Bros Discovery’s TNT Sports and Fox Corporation.
The debut of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) on ABC started strong in September, with an average of 6.2 million viewers across the first 13 SEC games. The top SEC game each Saturday drove an average of 7.4 million viewers to ABC, the network said.
Games from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Big 12 Conference are also driving significant viewership. The match-up between Clemson and Georgia in the Aflack Kickoff Challenge drove 7.6 million viewers to the network on September 14, making it the sixth most-watched college football game across all networks that month. The Miami season opener against Florida grabbed 6.4 million viewers. Other games that saw a high amount of interest on ABC and ESPN include:
- Florida State vs. Georgia Tech: 5.0 million
- North Dakota State at Colorado: 4.8 million
- Boston College at Florida State: 4.4 million
- Virginia Tech at Miami: 3.3 million
Week 6 will see 75 college football games played across Disney-owned platforms, including ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN U, the SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN Radio and the ESPN Plus streaming app.
