The two most-watched games in college football this season have included Ohio State.
FOX announced Tuesday that Ohio State’s Big Ten Championship Game loss to Indiana drew a record-breaking audience of 18.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched Big Ten title game ever and the second-most-watched game in college football this season.
HOO HOO HOO... HOOSIERS @IndianaFootball's win in the Big Ten Championship scored 18,332,000 viewers on FOX - with a peak of 19,993,000 viewers from 11:00-11:15 PM ET.
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) December 9, 2025
Most-watched @bigten Championship Game on record
Most-watched CFB telecast of Championship Weekend on pic.twitter.com/VEs7BJ0Ryz
The only game in college football to draw a larger viewership so far this season was Ohio State’s win over Michigan two weekends ago, which drew a TV audience of 18.4 million viewers.
The SEC Championship Game, in which Georgia beat Alabama 28-7, drew an audience of 16.9 million viewers, marking the first time ever that the Big Ten Championship Game drew a larger audience than the SEC Championship Game. The SEC Championship Game was the most-watched game so far this season that didn’t include Ohio State, surpassing Ohio State’s Week 1 win over Texas, which drew an audience of 16.6 million viewers, for the third-most-watched game in college football this season.
Per Sports Media Watch, this year’s Big Ten Championship Game is the most-watched conference championship game ever, surpassing the 2009 SEC Championship Game between Alabama and Florida, which was also a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup and drew 17.97 million viewers. However, Sports Media Watch noted that Nielsen did not begin tracking out-of-home viewership numbers until 2020 and that Nielsen’s ratings now include “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes, boosting viewership numbers in comparison to previous years.
Update: This article previously stated that Ohio State had played in the three most-watched college football games this season. It has been updated to reflect viewership for the SEC Championship Game, which is now the third-most-watched college football game this season.
