2024 Season Photos via ESPN Images
- College football’s most-watched pregame show reaches 30 million viewers this season
- 2024 regular season is GameDay’s most-watched of all time
- The premier pregame show had its first international show, visited campus sites in 12 states and originated from six Top 5 matchups
ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot delivered the most-watched regular season in the show’s 38-year history in 2024. The premier pregame show’s historic campaign included its first international show and campus visits from coast to coast that spotlighted six Top 5 matchups, first-time host Cal and more.
During the record-breaking 2024 season, GameDay averaged 2.2 million viewers for its best season ever – a 6% increase from 2023 and 5% over the prior season high. A GameDay record four telecasts surpassed 2.3 million viewers while the show reached 30 million viewers for the season. The show saw a 34% year-over-year increase in viewership in the 18-24 age range while adults 18-34 were up 14% year-over year.
The show recorded three of its six most-watched episodes since expanding to three hours in 2013 and included its most-watched pre-November episode ever (Week 1), best September episode since the show expanded (Week 5) and best October episode since the show expanded (Week 7).
College GameDay remains the most-watched traditional sports news and studio show on cable and college football’s No. 1 pregame show, outpacing the competition in the final hour by 84% overall and by 155% in the key persons 18-49 demographic.
Show Superlatives
- GameDay’s most-watched show of 2024 was Week 1 in College Station, Texas, averaging 2.5 million viewers and marking the most-watched pre-November episode ever and third best episode on record.
- Week 13’s visit to Ohio State finished close behind (2.5M) as the fourth most-watched episode ever.
- Week 14’s return to College Station for Rivalry Week was the third-best episode of the season (2.4M) and the ninth most-watched episode ever.
- Five episodes hit 3.0 million viewers in the final hour this season – Week 1 (Texas A&M), Week 7 (Oregon), Week 8 (Texas), Week 13 (Ohio State) and Week 14 (Texas A&M).
College GameDay’s regular season finale at the SEC Championship Game was the best conference championship episode since 2010, averaging 2.1 million viewers.
GameDay also notched its most-watched Week 0 episode ever when the program traveled to Dublin, Ireland for its first international show ever, averaging 1.6 million viewers ahead of the all-ACC matchup in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
Faces of GameDay
Cross-Country Coverage
The GameDay cast and crew traveled far and wide during the 2024 season, starting with a trip across the pond for the program’s first-ever international show in Week 0 from Dublin, Ireland. In total, GameDay traveled to 12 states with 13 different host schools, including Cal for the first time in Week 6. In all, College GameDay originated from six Top 5 matchups during the regular season.
By the Numbers
GameDay Picks
During the renowned end-of-show game picks segment, Corso notched his 425th pick all-time this season and finished with a 9-3 record in his mascot headgear picks, with his only losses coming by Texas (Week 8), LSU (Week 11) and Indiana (Week 13).
Davis was the 2024 SuperDog Champion, earning 91.5 points with newcomer Saban finishing a close second with 89 points.
In the regular-season, Stanford Steve compiled a 27-17 record for his weekly game picks.
Philadelphia Philles MLB star Kyle Schwarber posted the best record of any celebrity guest picker during the 2024 regular season, going 8-1 during his Week 9 appearance in Bloomington, Ind., when his alma mater, Indiana, hosted Washington.
Other notable celebrity guest pickers this season included WWE wrestler Sheamus (Week 0), Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps (Week 2), national champion women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley (Week 3), singer/songwriter Blake Shelton (Week 4), Nick Saban’s wife, Ms. Terry (Week 5), actress Kaitlin Olson (Week 6), actor/comedian Keegan-Michael Key (Week 10) and actor Timothée Chalamet (Week 15), among others.
| 2024 Celebrity Guest Picker Top 5 Standings | |
| Kyle Schwarber | 8-1 |
| Ms. Terry Saban | 7-2 |
| Dawn Staley | 9-3 |
| Scottie Scheffler | 7-3 |
| Cody Rhodes | 7-3 |
GameDay Extra
Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest also returned for its second season and remained a fan favorite, garnering a consistent spike in viewership. On average, the GameDay audience grew 10% from the start until the end of the segment. In all, McAfee donated $620,000 to the successful kickers and an additional $1,150,000 to charity for a total of $1,770,000 of his own money this regular season.
Social and Digital Delivers
- College GameDay reached new levels of success in 2024 on social media platforms with triple digit year-over-year increases in total engagements (101.1 million; +134% year-over-year), total impressions (1.7 billion; +149% year-over-year) and video views (1.1 billion; +180% year-over-year). The GameDay accounts have grown to 8.3 million followers across all social media platforms – a 7% increase from the start of the season in August.
- ESPN’s weekly digital and social show Countdown to GameDay marked its best year ever on YouTube by a significant margin. Christine Williamson, Harry Douglas and Harry Lyles Jr. returned to host the show, live from the site of College GameDay each week. Countdown finished with 1.7 million views across 15 weeks – up 563% over 2023. The digital pre-pregame show totaled 15.2 minutes watched – up 1146% from 2023, and generated an extra 3.3 million views on YouTube through additional segmented content creating an additional 9.8 million minutes viewed.
What’s Next
College GameDay gears up for the new, expanded College Football Playoff with two First Round trips beginning Friday, Dec. 20. The show will be live from South Bend, Ind., from 3:30 – 8 p.m. ET, before Notre Dame hosts Indiana. The crew will make a quick turnaround for a three-hour show (9 a.m. – noon) on Saturday, Dec. 21, in Columbus, Ohio, ahead of the Buckeyes’ matchup with Tennessee.
GameDay will continue its Playoff run with special editions originating from the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential on Wednesday, Jan. 1 (10 a.m. – 1 p.m.), followed by back-to-back episodes from both Semifinals – Thursday, Jan. 9 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Capitol One Orange Bowl, and Friday, Jan. 10 from 6-7:30 p.m. live from the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.
The season culminates at the CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T in Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 20, with a special episode from 5-7:30 p.m. before the big game (7:30 p.m.).
-30-
Media Contact:
Julie McKay, ESPN Communications – Julie.McKay@espn.com, @McKay_Julie
-
-
-
-
-
