College Football 2026 season TV ratings & viewership
Every nationally televised College Football game of the 2026 season with its published Nielsen audience: 210 of 293 national windows that have aired carry a published figure, each sourced.
Most-watched telecasts of the 2026 season
| rank | telecast telecast the telecast the figure is attached to, with its air date. A figure with no telecast row is listed without one. Methodology → | figure figure the telecast's lead figure: Nielsen average audience, full telecast, as published. Blank when Nielsen has not published one. Methodology → |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State Buckeyes at Texas Longhorns2026-09-12 · ABC | 13,990,000 |
| 2 | Georgia Bulldogs at Alabama Crimson Tide2026-10-10 · ABC | 12,240,000 |
| 3 | LSU Tigers at Ole Miss Rebels2026-09-19 · ABC | 10,900,000 |
| 4 | Texas Longhorns at Oklahoma Sooners2026-10-10 · ABC | 9,820,000 |
| 5 | Texas Longhorns at Tennessee Volunteers2026-09-26 · ABC | 9,750,000 |
| 6 | Ole Miss Rebels at Florida Gators2026-09-26 · ABC | 8,290,000 |
| 7 | Oklahoma Sooners at Michigan Wolverines2026-09-12 · FOX | 8,221,000 |
| 8 | Wisconsin Badgers at Notre Dame Fighting Irish2026-09-06 · NBC | 7,421,000 |
| 9 | Alabama Crimson Tide at Kentucky Wildcats2026-09-12 · ABC · Disney+ | 7,300,000 |
| 10 | Florida State Seminoles at Alabama Crimson Tide2026-09-19 · ABC · ESPN2 | 7,000,000 |
Top 10 of 213 eligible telecasts · computed 2026-10-16 02:29 UTC
Site-computed means by network
| networks | mean |
|---|---|
| ABCmean of 15 published figures | 7,051,267 |
| ABC · Disney+mean of 3 published figures | 4,994,667 |
| NBCmean of 11 published figures | 3,399,273 |
| FOXmean of 22 published figures | 2,770,273 |
| CBSmean of 10 published figures | 2,581,100 |
| Disney+ · ESPNmean of 6 published figures | 2,355,000 |
| ESPNmean of 30 published figures | 1,893,700 |
| BTNmean of 19 published figures | 554,263 |
| ESPN2mean of 18 published figures | 545,556 |
| FS1mean of 20 published figures | 478,650 |
| The CWmean of 18 published figures | 452,778 |
| TNTmean of 6 published figures | 348,333 |
| USA Networkmean of 10 published figures | 217,000 |
| ESPNUmean of 20 published figures | 145,500 |
Mean of the chart-eligible Nielsen average figures per network set this season, computed by this site. Not a network's own season average.
Every national window with a figure
Week 0
| date | telecast | figure |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-29 | Howard Bison at Alabama A&M BulldogsABC | 1,150,000 |
| 2026-08-29 | New Mexico State Aggies at Florida State SeminolesThe CW | 1,960,000 |
| 2026-08-29 | Memphis Tigers at UNLV RebelsFOX | 1,650,000 |
| 2026-08-29 | NC State Wolfpack at Virginia CavaliersESPN | 3,200,000 |
| 2026-08-29 | North Carolina Tar Heels at TCU Horned FrogsESPN · Disney+ | 4,900,000 |
| 2026-08-29 | San José State Spartans at USC TrojansNBC | 1,860,000 |
3 more national windows, no figure on record
Week 1
14 more national windows, no figure on record
Week 2
15 more national windows, no figure on record
Week 3
13 more national windows, no figure on record
Week 4
10 more national windows, no figure on record
Week 5
10 more national windows, no figure on record
Week 6
2 more national windows, no figure on record
9 windows awaiting a figure
Week 7
7 windows awaiting a figure
39 windows still to air
Week 8
31 windows still to air
Week 9
17 windows still to air
Week 10
20 windows still to air
Week 11
19 windows still to air
Week 12
18 windows still to air
Week 13
13 windows still to air
Week 15
1 window still to air
On record outside the league schedule
| date | telecast | figure |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-05 | Oregon State Beavers at Houston CougarsESPNEWS | 1,686,000 |
| 2026-09-12 | Oregon Ducks at Oklahoma State CowboysESPN | 2,100,000 |
| 2026-09-19 | North Carolina Tar Heels at Clemson TigersESPN | 3,600,000 |
| 2026-09-19 | New Mexico Lobos at Oklahoma SoonersESPN2 | 670,000 |
Telecasts of this league and season that carry a figure and no league-schedule row; not counted in the coverage line.