The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 14/14/13 Football rated college football’s second-most watched team in 2025
12.05.2025 | Football
The Texas Longhorns averaged 7.546 million viewers per game during the regular season.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 14/14/13 Texas Football was the second-most-watched program in college football this year, according to the Nielsen ratings released Friday. The Longhorns averaged 7.546 million viewers per game during the regular season.
Nielsen has been tracking the most-watched teams in college football this season and at the conclusion of the regular season, Texas has registered the second-highest viewership numbers in the nation — averaging 7.546 million viewers per game🤘🏼 pic.twitter.com/HihUA87MGT
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) December 5, 2025
The Longhorns had a historical year of viewership starting with the most-watched season-opener in college football history (16.6 million at Ohio State) and closing with the most-watched weekday game ever with 13 million against Texas A&M in the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown on Nov. 28. The game against the Aggies was also the third-most viewed game in college football this season.
All total, Texas registered four of top 20 game audiences on the season, including the best Allstate Red River Rivalry viewing numbers (8.7 million) since 2009 and the best-ever in a Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown (13 million). Texas' third-most watched game of the season was on the road at Georgia on Nov. 15 with 10.4 million watching. Additionally, Texas' second-to-last game of regular season vs. Arkansas on Nov. 22 was the most-watched game of the week with 5.6 million tuning in. The Longhorns drew more than four million viewers in six of their 12 games in the regular season.
💪 @ESPNCFB & ABC both scored their best Rivalry Week presentations since 2012
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) December 5, 2025
🏈 @TexasFootball-@AggieFootball | 13.0M viewers
🏈 @AlabamaFTBL-@AuburnFootball | 11.3M
🏈 @GeorgiaFootball-@GeorgiaTechFB | 8.7M pic.twitter.com/rtOms96yaX
Nielsen is the leader in audience measurement for live sports, with two recent enhancements further reinforcing its innovation in the space. Nielsen's Big Data + Panel measurement combines Nielsen's unique, high-quality representative panel measurement with data from cable, satellite set-top boxes and smart TVs across 45 million households and 75 million devices.
Most Watched College Football Teams in 2025 (Nielsen)
- Alabama – 8.493 million viewers
- Texas – 7.546 million viewers
- Georgia – 7.476 million viewers
- Ohio State – 6.567 million viewers
- Oklahoma – 6.468 million viewers
- LSU – 6.415 million viewers
- Tennessee – 6.205 million viewers
- Auburn – 5.255 million viewers
- Michigan – 5.077 million viewers
- Texas A&M – 4.987 million viewers
