ABC Had Its Best College Football Season in 15 Years
With the college football regular season now at an end, Disney has announced that ABC delivered record-breaking ratings in 2024.
ABC was the number-one network for college football this season, averaging 5.8 million viewers across 46 regular-season games. Based on those numbers, 2024 was ABC’s highest-rated college football season since 2009, and viewership was up 56% year over year.
In total, viewers consumed 58 billion minutes of live college football on ABC, a new record. The inaugural season of SEC on ABC proved to be a ratings hit, averaging 6.4 million views per game.
ABC Dominated Two Separate Windows
ABC also delivered the two most-watched Saturday windows across all networks and media companies with its primetime and late afternoon windows.
In primetime, the network trounced the competition, doubling the ratings of its nearest competitor. ABC’s Saturday Night Football averaged 7.4 million viewers, an 89% increase year over year and the network’s best season since 2008.
Photo: ESPN
The late afternoon window (which begins at 3:30 PM ET) drew 5.9 million viewers per game, up 40% from the previous year.
Overall, ABC was easily the most-watched network in college football, drawing 85% more viewers than any other station and matching all other broadcast networks combined in total minutes consumed.
Live Sports Continue to Be the Path Forward
In an ever-changing media landscape, live sports have repeatedly proven to be the bedrock of a successful network. This year, the College Football Playoff expanded its field to twelve teams, which increased interest in the regular season and provided rating benefits for ABC.
Photo: ESPN/ABC
While both ABC and ESPN face many questions moving forward, it is clear that live sports will be essential to the networks’ futures.
As Disney continues integrating ESPN+ into Disney+ and prepares for the launch of ESPN Flagship, the company has continually invested in life sports. In fact, earlier this year, they agreed to an extended deal with the College Football Playoff.
Photo: ESPN
Once again, live sports have proven to be king.
