Michigan's win over Ohio State is most-watched regular-season college football game since 2011
An average audience of over 19 million watched the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes for a third straight season
Michigan’s win over Ohio State was the most-watched regular-season college football game in 12 years.
Fox Sports said Wednesday that an average of just over 19 million viewers watched the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes 30-24 in a battle of 11-0 teams. The win moved Michigan to 12-0 and the Big Ten championship game while Ohio State is 11-1 and needs some help on conference championship weekend to make the College Football Playoff.
Fox said the viewership for the game made it the most-watched college football regular season game on its network and the most-watched regular-season game on any channel since 2011.
Saturday's Ohio State-Michigan matchup scored 19,065,000 viewers on FOX
🏈 Most-watched regular season college football game on any network since 2011
🏈 Most-watched regular season college football game in FOX Sports history
🏈 Peaked at 22,900,000 viewers on FOX pic.twitter.com/e5yQKmHhCZ— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) November 29, 2023
It was the second straight season that Michigan and Ohio State met as unbeaten teams and the third victory in a row for Michigan. This season’s audience for the game increased by approximately two million viewers over the 2022 game.
The sign-stealing scandal at Michigan likely led to increased interest around the country. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh missed the third of a three-game Big Ten suspension against the Buckeyes and is set to return for Saturday’s Big Ten championship game against Iowa. The conference suspended Harbaugh for a violation of its sportsmanship policy because of the evidence the Big Ten said it had of the sign-stealing scheme that was run by former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions.
The game nearly doubled the audience of the second-most watched game during the 2023 season. Before Week 13, the most-watched game of the season was Oregon’s dominant win over Colorado in Week 4. Just over 10 million watched that game as the Buffaloes entered the matchup against the Ducks at 3-0.
Colorado was a big TV draw early in the season as its first three games also got at least 7 million viewers. But viewership declined as Colorado’s play declined. The Buffaloes went 1-8 in Pac-12 play to finish the season at 4-8.
The second-most watched game of Week 13 was Alabama’s dramatic win over Auburn. Just over nine million watched that game on CBS. It was the final regular-season SEC telecast on the network as ESPN takes over the entirety of the conference’s TV contract in 2024.
