Alabama-Clemson Game Fails to Score Ratings Record

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

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ESPN’s second College Football Playoff National Championship telecast failed to beat out the ratings performance of its predecessor.

The network’s telecast last night of Alabama’s 45-40 victory over Clemson averaged 25 million viewers, down from last year’s record setting Ohio State-Oregon game which drew 33.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That game still holds the record for the most watched telecast ever on cable television.

Overall, ESPN’s presentation of the CFP National Championship averaged 26,1 million viewers, with ESPN2 and ESPNU each averaging more than 225,000 viewers throughout the game. ESPN Deportes added more than 55,000 viewers, according to the network.

ESPN's Alabama-Clemson game completes a CFP run which saw its New Year's Eve Alabama-Michigan State and Clemson-Oklahoma semi-final games post 34% and 44% declines respectively, from comparable games last year, according to Nielsen.

The game was a big hit on Twitter, with ESPN’s telecast generating more than 2 million tweets reaching a unique audience of 9.7 million Twitter users, according to network officials.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.