Nielsen breaks down the top 10 college football teams by viewership

There has been a significant change in college football, with more teams moving to different leagues, which was spearheaded by the move Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns to SEC. With these came TV deals, the start of new rivalries and the renewal of old rivalries.

Interest is at an all time high with these changes, NIL deals and all the movement in conferences. To no one’s surprise, SEC teams were largely the most-watched conference on average during the 2024 college football season. Rounding out the top ten were eight SEC teams and two Big Ten teams Ohio State and Michigan at No. 2 and 6. Texas A&M was also on the list, which might surprise some, but they had a lot of storylines going into the season and played a lot of interesting games in primetime.

Overall, this college football season has been one of the more exciting seasons, with several teams having a chance to claim the NCAA Championship in the newly expanded College Football Playoff to 12 teams. At least five of the twelve teams have a real chance to reach the title game and will likely have some of the most watched games in postseason history.

Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behavior across all channels and platforms, we give our clients independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences, now and in the future.

Below are the top 10 most-viewed teams according to Nielsen ratings:

No. 10 – Florida

Matt Pendleton-Images Images

Viewers: 4.3 million viewers

Record: 7-5

Bowl Game: Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl

No. 9 – Kentucky

Petre Thomas-Images Images

Viewers: 4.5 million

Record: 4-8

Bowl Game: N/A

No. 8 – LSU

Stephen Lew-Images Images

Viewers: 4.8 million

Record: 8-4

Bowl Game: Kinder’s Texas Bowl

No. 7 – Texas A&M

(Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

Viewers: 4.9 million

Record: 8-4

Bowl Game: SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl

No. 6 – Michigan

Rick Osentoski-Images Images

Viewers: 5.2 million

Record: 7-5

Bowl Game: ReliaQuest Bowl

No. 5 – Tennessee

Randy Sartin-Images Images

Viewers: 5.4 million

Record: 10-2

Bowl Game: The first round of the College Football Playoff

No. 4 – Texas

Mikala Compton/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Viewers: 6.4 million

Record: 11-2

Bowl Game: The first round of the College Football Playoff

No. 3 – Alabama

Jake Crandall/ Advertiser/ USA TODAY NETWORK

Viewers: 6.6 million

Record: 9-3

Bowl Game: ReliaQuest Bowl

No. 2 – Ohio State

Joseph Maiorana-Images Images

Viewers: 6.8 million

Record: 10-2

Bowl Game: The first round of the College Football Playoff

No. 1 – Georgia

Dale Zanine-Images Images

Viewers: 8.6 million

Record: 11-2

Bowl Game: Allstate Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinals