The Montana at Montana State FCS semifinal game on ABC was the most-watched FCS playoff game on record, averaging 2.8 million viewers.
ESPN2’s Illinois State at Villanova game averaged about 400,000 viewers. The average of 1.6M viewers is the most-watched semifinals since 2009.
For comparison, last year’s FCS semifinals had two games on ABC, which draws more eyeballs than ESPN2. SDSU at NDSU on ABC averaged 1.58M viewers. South Dakota at Montana State on ABC averaged 1.37M. Last season’s title game of NDSU vs. Montana State on ESPN drew 2.41M.
This comes a week after the quarterfinal round drew its highest average audience since 2011.
Viewership for the six FCS playoff games so far on national TV is up 13% from the comparable six games on networks prior to the title game last year.
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