The NFL is a giant that would dwarf Goliath and that point was made quite clearly over the weekend when the league’s regular-season games went up against some of college’s best offerings from the first round of the College Football Playoffs.

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t really close.

NFL Viewership Is On Fire In 2024

Although the final numbers are not yet available, the early numbers starting to make the rounds show that the NFL’s two games on Saturday afternoon more than doubled the viewership of the two CFP playoff games that were on at about the same times.

The matchup between SMU and Penn State, which was played at noon on Saturday on TNT, TBS and TruTV, got a 3.1 overnight rating. It was a 38-10 blowout which was probably one reason the game attracted 6.4 million viewers on average with a peak viewership of 7.9 million.

Another reason is the game eventually competed against the NFL’s 1 p.m. game featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans. And that game got a 7.4 overnight number on NBC.

NFL games typically average between 17-18 million viewers. The league has been enjoying a renaissance of viewership this year, with the numbers at around 21 million per game on average the first week of the season, and at an 18.4 million average the first three weeks.

The averages have fluctuated since but haven’t dipped below past years.

So, yes, advantage NFL. 

Clemson And Texas Numbers Solid

It’s an advantage that didn’t fade in the late Saturday afternoon block. 

The Clemson versus Texas matchup that began at 4 p.m. on TNT collected a 3.6 overnight number. The broadcast averaged 8.6 million viewers and hit a peak mark of 9.5 million viewers.

Those numbers represent the most-viewed College Football game viewership ever on TNT. It also represents the highest viewed sporting event of any kind on TNT for the month of December ever.

But it faced the NFL’s 4:30 p.m. kickoff of the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Baltimore Ravens. And it was a blowout.

The NFL’s late afternoon game on FOX collected a 7.6 overnight number, making it the most watched football game of the day or evening Saturday. 

Ravens Versus Steelers Won Saturday

Even the Saturday night game between Ohio State and Tennessee, which had no opposing NFL game and is the highest rated college game of the playoff’s first round, could not compete. That game collected a 6.3 overnight rating.

That game’s 14.3 million average viewership and even its 16.5 million peak could not compete with a typical NFL game. And that game, you must understand, represents the second-most watched college football game of the 2024 season.

The Friday matchup between Notre Dame and Indiana, which also didn’t face NFL competition, had the second-highest number among the college playoff games in the first round. The overnight for that game was 5.7 with 13.4 million viewers and a peak of 14.8 million viewers.

That Friday game is the third-most watched college football game of the 2024 season.

So, overall, it was a good start for the college game as its playoffs got under way. But the comparison to regular-season NFL games? 

The NFL giant could not be stopped.