FCS Championship delivers second most-watched audience ever

The FCS Championship’s move to Monday night helped lift the game to one of its largest audiences ever.

North Dakota State’s win over Montana State averaged 2.4 million viewers on ESPN, marking the second most-watched FCS National Championship game in history, per ESPN PR.

According to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, this year’s game more-than-doubled last year’s game between South Dakota State and Montana, which averaged just 1.04 million viewers while facing direct NFL competition on a Sunday afternoon. Monday’s game was the most-watched FCS title game since 2020 which aired Saturday afternoon on ABC and drew 2.69 million viewers.

Also per Lewis, NDSU’s win was the most-watched FCS football game since the 2022 Celebration Bowl which featured Deion Sanders’ Jackson State playing North Carolina Central (2.42 million viewers).

Perhaps predictably, the title game’s move off of Sunday afternoon proved to be beneficial from a viewership perspective.

The title game caps off an impressive run for the FCS postseason. This year’s semifinals — despite airing directly against both NFL and College Football Playoff competition — averaged 1.48 million viewers on ABC, the most-watched FCS semis since at least 2018.