Last night’s College Football Playoff title game may not have lived up to the hype, but it definitely drew viewers in at a record-breaking pace. Despite Ohio State’s dominating win really taking the suspense out of the game, ESPN is reporting that they still received the highest overnight rating in the history of the network.
Monday night’s inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T (8:30 p.m. – midnight ET) — Ohio State’s 42-20 victory over Oregon at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas – generated a 18.5 overnight rating, the highest metered market ever for ESPN according to Nielsen.
Also, the final game of the new College Football Playoff format surpassed the 16.1 overnight rating for the 2011 BCS National Championship (Auburn vs. Oregon) which held the previous best in ESPN history.
Just another reminder that the College Football Playoff is about a billion times better than the BCS ever was.