ESPN’s LSU-Clemson Telecast Draws More Than 25 Million Viewers

ESPN’s live telecast of the LSU-Clemson College Football Playoffs National Championship game Monday night averaged more than 25 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

The audience for the game, in which LSU defeated the defending champion Clemson 42-21 to complete the team's undefeated season, was up 3% from last year’s Alabama-Clemson CFP National Championship telecast, which drew 24.3 million viewers, according to ESPN.

ESPN’s MegaCast presentation of LSU’s victory -- which included viewers from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews -- delivered an initial audience of 25.5 million viewers, surpassing the 25.2 million viewers generated by ESPN’s MegaCast audience for Clemson’s win in last season's championship game.

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.