College Football Playoff ratings drop 7% as NFL competition hits viewership

Last weekend's first round of the College Football Playoff averaged 9.9 million viewers on ABC, ESPN, TNT, TBS and truTV, according to ESPN and Nielson.

Last weekend's first round of the College Football Playoff averaged 9.9 million viewers on ABC, ESPN, TNT, TBS and truTV, according to ESPN and Nielson. That is a 7% drop from last year.

A big reason for the drop was that the final game, James Madison versus Oregon, was on TNT, TBS and truTV and not on ABC and ESPN, along with an NFL game in prime time.

The Chicago Bears' 22-16 overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers on Fox averaged 21.3 million viewers, while Oregon's 51-34 win over James Madison drew 4.4 million. Last year's Ohio State-Tennessee game on ABC/ESPN averaged 14.3 million, plus it did not go up against an NFL game.

The most-watched CFP game was Alabama's 34-24 comeback victory over Oklahoma, which averaged 14.9 million on a Friday night on ABC/ESPN. Not only was that the highest-viewed CFP first-round game in the two years of the expanded 12-team field, it was the fifth-most watched game of the season. Six of the top 20 most-viewed games this year involve Alabama.

Last year's CFP opener between Notre Dame and Indiana averaged 13.4 million.