College GameDay’s Unmatched Success: The Secrets Behind This College Football Season’s Record-Breaking Ratings
In its 38th season, and 31st on the road, the premier pregame show is better than ever. Coordinating producer Matthew Garrett shares how the show continues to hit new highs.
Midway through the 2024-25 college football season, ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot is off to a historic start.
After finishing the last two seasons as the most-watched in the show’s history, this season has built on that success and is on track for the most-watched season ever. Through the first nine weeks, College GameDay is averaging 2.2 million viewers, a 9% increase from 2023’s impressive season, and has featured the three most-watched pre-November episodes since the show’s expansion to three hours. The final hour alone is averaging 2.9 million viewers and is more than doubling the competition.
Most impressively, GameDay is reaching a young audience as well as its loyal fans. The show is seeing its largest percentage gains among the 18-24 age demographic, up a staggering 41% from 2023.
In a world of quick hits and short attention spans, GameDay viewers are watching four minutes more per episode than a season ago. Social content is up significantly with engagements up 66% and video views up 131% year-over-year at the midpoint of the season.
In its 38th season, and 31st on the road, the premier pregame show is better than ever. Coordinating producer Matthew Garrett talks about GameDay’s success and how the show continues to hit new highs.
Midway through the season, College GameDay is off to its best start ever. How does the show continue to not only stay on top but raise the bar?
Since joining College GameDay before the 2023 season, I have had the pleasure of working with a team that is as committed as any that I have ever worked with to make each show special and unique. The easy way out is not ever taken on College GameDay .
Every single person on the show – both in front of and behind the camera – wants every Saturday morning’s show to be better than the last. Our goal is to make each show must-see TV and to build on the incredible legacy of the show’s almost 40-year history. We want our fans to know that their college football Saturday isn’t complete unless it’s kicking it off with College GameDay.
When we are in Tuscaloosa, Austin or State College for a Top 5 matchup, we want to tell the story of those heavyweight clashes in the best way possible while building the show around a huge game. When we are at Cal for the first time in College GameDay’s history or at Indiana for the first time ever on a Saturday morning, we want to highlight the stories and traditions of those programs in the most creative ways possible.
In your second season working on the show, is there anything you’ve seen that makes it unique?
What continues to be one of College GameDay’s greatest strengths is its on-air team’s personalities. [Commentators] Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and Lee Corso have a history and a relationship with college football fans that is exceptionally special.
Adding [commentator] Pat McAfee to that awesome foundation a few years ago has brought incredible energy to the show. Pat’s ability to engage a live audience and our younger fans is unmatched by anyone else on television. With Nick Saban joining our team this season, we can offer our viewers a masterclass each week from the greatest coach in college football history. [Commentator] Nick Saban, with his seven National Championships, elevates every discussion and conversation we have, both on-air and off. That unbelievable team, along with [commentators] Steve Coughlin, Jen Lada, Jess Sims and Pete Thamel, gives us what I believe is the best on-air team on television.
What continues to impress me most about the College GameDay team is that there is never a cookie-cutter approach to the show from week to week. The show is completely rebuilt and remodeled every week – torn down to the studs – to ensure it’s the very best show it can be for that specific week. Despite all the planning that goes into the show throughout the week, College GameDay remains at its best when we are capitalizing on the unpredictable moments of a Saturday morning. Whether that’s Nick Saban tearing off his red tie in Berkeley only to replace it with one that is blue and gold (a nod to Cal’s rivalry with Stanford) or it’s Pat McAfee offering a student $100,000 if they can make a 33-yard field goal.
WE’RE HEADED TO HAPPY VALLEY
See you soon for Ohio State-Penn State pic.twitter.com/8YCpcoCa66
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 27, 2024
What are you looking forward to in the second half of the season?
Looking ahead to the second half of the season, I think there’s a palpable excitement from everyone on College GameDay about the 12-team College Football Playoff that is set to kick off in December. In our first preseason production meeting in August, Coach Saban said that he believes there is more hope for teams than ever before in college football, and I think we are seeing that play out each week. As the race for conference championships and playoff berths kicks into high gear, we’re excited to have College GameDay at the most important matchups each week for what is shaping up to be one of the most exciting seasons the sport has ever seen.
