Alabama's Win over Ohio State Drew Lowest National Championship Game TV Ratings Ever

Even though it featured two of the biggest name brands in 
college football, Monday night's national championship game 
didn't draw as large of a TV audience as usual.

Alabama's 52-24 win over Ohio State drew an audience of 18.7 
million TV viewers, the lowest for any national championship 
game since the national championship game began with the Bowl 
Championship Series in 1998.

The national championship game also drew less viewership than 
both Ohio State's Sugar Bowl win over Clemson (19.1 million) and 
Alabama's Rose Bowl over Notre Dame (18.9 million), though it 
was the most-watched non-NFL sporting event of the past year 
other than the College Football Playoff semifinals.

Previously, the least-watched national championship game came at 
the end of the 2004 season, when USC blew out Oklahoma 55-19 in 
the final game of the season.

Monday night's lower-than-usual TV ratings likely resulted from 
a combination of factors. TV ratings have been down across all 
sports during the COVID-19 pandemic – for example, ratings for 
the wild card round of the NFL playoffs were down 22% this past 
weekend – and the lopsided nature of Monday's game certainly 
didn't help. And while Ohio State and Alabama are typically 
large ratings draws because of their massive fan bases, the TV 
ratings could be an indicator of national fatigue from watching 
those teams in the CFP.

The semifinals drawing higher ratings than the national 
championship game probably stemmed in part from those games 
being played on a holiday – New Year's Day – rather than a 
Monday night, but previous national championship games dating 
back to the BCS have also been played on Mondays.

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2021-college-
football-playoff-championship/2021/01/120555/alabamas-win-over-
ohio-state-drew-lowest-national-championship-game