Ohio State-Notre Dame Thriller Is NBC’s Most Watched Regular-Season College Football Game Since 1993 “Game Of The Century”

September 25, 2023

Buckeyes’ Last-Second, Three-Point Win Over Fighting Irish Averaged 10.5 Million Viewers, Peaking at 14.2 Million Viewers on Game-Winning Touchdown Drive (10:30-10:45 p.m. ET)

Ohio State-Notre Dame is Most Watched Primetime Regular Season College Football Game on Any Network Since 2018, Excluding Labor Day Holiday Weekend

NBC Sports drew its largest regular-season college football audience in 30 years for No. 6 Ohio State’s down-to-the-wire 17-14 win over No. 9 Notre Dame, with a touchdown in the closing seconds on Saturday night.

The Buckeyes’ three-point victory over the Fighting Irish averaged 10.5 million viewers across NBC, Peacock and NBC Sports Digital, ranking as NBC Sports’ second-most watched regular season college football game of all-time, behind only then-No. 2 Notre Dame’s “Game of the Century” 31-24 defeat of No. 1 Florida State on Nov. 13, 1993 (22 million viewers).

Additional viewership highlights from Ohio State-Notre Dame:

• The Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 605,000 viewers for Saturday night’s live stream via Peacock and NBC Sports Digital platforms marks NBC Sports’ most-streamed college football simulcast.

• Viewership for Ohio State-Notre Dame peaked at 14 million from 10:30-10:45 p.m. ET, as the Buckeyes drove for the game-winning score (a one-yard run with one second remaining).

• Excluding the Labor Day holiday weekend, Saturday night’s matchup is the most-watched primetime regular-season college football game on any network since 2018.

• Ohio State-Notre Dame (7:37 p.m.-11 p.m. ET) registered a national NBC-TV household rating of 5.1/16.

Viewership figures are based upon live + same day data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

TOP METERED MARKETS FOR OHIO STATE-NOTRE DAME (based on 44 markets available):

--NBC SPORTS--