The NFL continued to prove it is king with a strong showing in the ratings department in its two Saturday afternoon games taking on College Football Playoff competition.
There were 15.4 million viewers for the Baltimore Ravens’ win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Fox and 15.5 million viewers on NBC for the afternoon showdown in which the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Houston Texans. according to Sports Media Watch.
Saturday afternoon’s CFP first-round matchups aired on TNT, TBS and truTV. Clemson’s win over Texas drew 8.6 million viewers and Penn State knocked off SMU with 6.4 million. The night’s two games — Ohio State beating Tennessee (14.3 million) and Notre Dame beating Indiana (13.4 million) — put up solid numbers with no competition from the NFL.
Despite going head-to-head with two NFL games and the results ending in a blowout, the CFP numbers in context were very good. Overall, the four games averaged 10.6 million viewers, with Tennessee-Ohio State and Indiana-Notre Dame generating two of the three largest audiences of the season for college football.
Clemson-Texas and SMU-Penn State were the two most-watched college football games that aired exclusively on cable this season.