College Football TV Ratings Remain Down 11% Through October
Four games total have drawn an audience of 10 million or higher.
College football television ratings have dropped 11% during the initial two months of the 2026 season, according to Nielsen's audience measurement data. In October, FBS game broadcasts averaged 1.6 million viewers across all Nielsen-rated networks, a decline from the 1.7 million viewers averaged in the first nine weeks of the 2025 season.
This downward trend is consistent with the 11% drop in viewership across all networks through September, which saw an average of 1.7 million viewers per game. However, total minutes watched across networks rose 2% compared to 2025 through the nine-week period. The Texas–Ohio State game in Week 2 remains the most-watched of the season, drawing 14 million viewers on ABC.
Only four games have surpassed the 10 million viewer mark so far—two in October—namely Georgia-Alabama (12.2 million on ABC) and Ohio State–Indiana (10.4 million on Fox). In contrast to 2025, when 11 regular-season games exceeded 10 million viewers, only 10 games have achieved this milestone in the 2026 season. Looking ahead to the upcoming Week 10 slate on November 7, the ratings may see a boost with seven Top 25 matchups scheduled.
Notable games include a primetime showdown featuring No. 1 Miami against No. 11 Notre Dame on NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET, alongside a Georgia versus Ole Miss game on ABC. ESPN's College GameDay has also shown strong performance, averaging 4% above its 2025 season record of 2.7 million viewers per episode.
Written by urgent.news from Front Office Sports's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
