Despite some brand names not advancing to the FCS quarterfinals this year, the round of eight delivered its best TV viewership in years.
Three of the quarterfinal games were broadcast on ABC and ESPN, and they averaged 1.4 million viewers, up 34% year-over-year. It’s also the highest audience for the quarterfinal round since 2011.
Information was obtained by HERO Sports through an ESPN PR spokesperson.
The highest quarterfinal viewership from last weekend was Saturday’s South Dakota at Montana game on ABC, drawing 1.9 million viewers. That’s the most-watched FCS quarterfinal game since 2016. For comparison, last year’s quarterfinal game on ABC of Mercer at NDSU drew 1.4 million viewers.
Friday’s SFA at Montana State game on ESPN averaged 864,000 viewers (up 17% YoY from last year’s Friday quarterfinal game of Idaho at Montana State).
Saturday’s Villanova at Tarleton State game on ESPN averaged 1.5M viewers (up 61% YoY from last year’s Saturday ESPN game of UIW at SDSU).
The Celebration Bowl also enjoyed great TV numbers last weekend, averaging 2.3 million viewers for the game’s largest viewership since 2022.
