Alabama-Georgia was most-watched primetime college football game since 2017
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As soon as the 2024 college football schedules were announced, fans around the country had the Alabama-Georgia game circled. The matchup lived up to the hype (and then some) and the nation was certainly tuned in.
According to the Nielsen ratings, Saturday’s big game averaged nearly 12 million viewers, making it the most-watched regular season game in the primetime slot in seven years.
How it compares to past Alabama games
ESPN said the game was its most-streamed college football game of all time. The game peaked at more than 14 million viewers around the time Jalen Milroe threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Ryan Williams.
This was the most watched primetime game during the regular season since Alabama met Florida State for the 2017 season opener.
The numbers fell short of the last time the Crimson Tide played the Bulldogs, when 17.5 million viewers tuned in for last year’s SEC Championship Game. However, it did surpass the 2020 regular season meeting between the two teams which averaged 9.61 million viewers.
Here’s a look at Alabama’s most watched regular season games from last season:
- Auburn — 9.09 million
- LSU — 8.82 million
- Texas — 8.76 million
- Tennessee — 8.01 million
The game is Alabama’s most watched regular season game in any time slot since 2019 when the Tide lost to Joe Burrow and LSU. That game averaged 16.64 million viewers.
Auburn-Oklahoma second most-watched game of weekend
It was a thrilling tripleheader on ABC as the network got to truly showcase its new deal with the SEC for the first time.
Auburn hosted Oklahoma in the afternoon time slot, which averaged 5.04 million viewers. That was the second highest rated game of the weekend.
Despite the early kickoff, Kentucky’s upset win over Ole Miss was the fourth most-watched game of the weekend. It averaged 3.99 million viewers.
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