On media: College football TV ratings soared, but was a change to the Nielsen measuring system responsible?

Three days after Indiana completed its masterpiece, college football delivered another stunner: The Hoosiers’ victory over Miami in the College Football Playoff championship attracted 30.1 million viewers, according to ESPN.

The figure represented a massive year-over-year increase (36 percent) and the largest audience for the CFP title game since the inaugural event 11 years ago.

But it wasn’t a one-off for the 2025-26 season, which produced multi-year viewership highs on numerous fronts:

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