Weekly Cable Ratings: Michigan-Washington CFP Championship Propels ESPN in Primetime

Wolverines running back Blake Corum (2) is upended by Washington Huskies cornerback Elijah Jackson (25) during the CFP National Championship football game between the Washington Huskies and Michigan Wolverines at NRG Stadium on January 8, 2024 .

ESPN's College Football Playoff championship game telecast helped it score a victory on the primetime ratings chart.

ESPN averaged 4.1 million viewers in primetime for the week of January 8-14, more than doubling second-place Fox News Channel’s 2 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers provided by Fox News. ESPN was paced by the January 8 Michigan Wolverines-Washington Huskies college title game telecast, which averaged 24 million viewers.

MSNBC was third with 1.1 million viewers, followed by HGTV’s 883,000 viewers and Hallmark Channel’s 777,000 watchers. History was sixth with 731,000 viewers, followed by CNN (730,000), TBS (683,000), USA Network (626,000), and TLC (594,000). 

Fox News topped the total-day chart with 1.2 million viewers, followed by ESPN (1.1 million viewers), MSNBC (831,000), CNN (513,000) and HGTV (483,000), according to Nielsen.