FBS broadcasts are averaging 1.6 million viewers across Nielsen-rated networks this season, even as total minutes viewed across all networks are up 2% over 2025.
College football viewership is lagging well behind last season's pace. Through the first two months of the 2026 season, FBS game broadcasts are averaging 1.6 million viewers across all Nielsen-rated networks, down 11% compared to the first nine weeks of the 2025 season, according to Nielsen data provided to Front Office Sports. That figure comes from 402 eligible games this season, versus 410 over the same stretch in 2025.
The decline isn't new. Viewership across all networks was also down 11% through September, covering Weeks 0 through 4, when games averaged 1.7 million viewers. So the slide has been steady rather than worsening as the season has gone on.
There's a wrinkle, though. Even with average viewership down, total minutes viewed across all networks are actually up 2% over last year through nine weeks, suggesting people are still logging plenty of time with the sport even if fewer eyeballs are on any single broadcast at once.
A separate look at the five major broadcast and cable networks airing games found average viewership down 6% through Week 8, with Fox the lone network posting a year-over-year increase, helped by strong Friday night windows.