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The Michigan Wolverines secured their first national title in 26 years on Monday, and 25M people tuned in to see them defeat the Washington Huskies.
The National Championship game was telecast across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN Deportes. The main channel secured a hefty majority of the audience with 24.28M viewers, according to Nielsen data.
This marks the most-watched title game in four years, since LSU clinched the title against Clemson in 2020. It’s also up about 45% from the title game last year, when Georgia defeated TCU by more than 50 points. That game only secured 17M viewers.
That’s likely because not only was this game against the No. 1 and No. 2 regular season teams in the nation, but it also remained close for much of the matchup. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Michigan really pulled away and secured the 34-13 win. Not to mention, this was Michigan’s redemption year after narrowly losing out on a spot in the title game last year.
The National Championship game is the second largest audience this season, as Michigan’s Rose Bowl win over Alabama delivered nearly 28M viewers and takes the top spot. It might seem surprising, but it is not entirely uncommon for a semifinal to outperform the national title.
In fact, last year’s national title had a smaller audience than both semifinal games. Georgia-Ohio State was the most-watched contest with 22M viewers. Michigan-TCU took second place with 21.7M.
This year, Michigan’s regular season win over Ohio State is the third most-watched game of the season with 19M people tuning in. The Sugar Bowl’s 18.4M viewers put it in fourth place.
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