ESPN College GameDay week 5 hits new viewership milestone

Another week, another set of milestone viewership marks for ESPN's epic pregame show College GameDay. The network's Week 5 show, at Penn State, continued to wildly outpace the 2024 statistics and soundly lead the competition, presumably referencing FOX's Big Noon Kickoff.

Inside the numbers

According to information from the Nielsen Big Data + Panel, ESPN's Week 5 edition of CGD drew an average 2.3 million viewers over its 9 AM- noon ET window. The final hour pulled 2.9 million viewers and at the show's peak, 3.4 million viewers tuned in. ESPN noted that the final hour figures bested the competition head-to-head by 190%.

For the 2025 season to date of CGD, ESPN is 29% ahead of it's 2024 pace on viewership. This has occurred despite the loss of legendary personality Lee Corso, part of the show since its 1987 inception. Corso's much-celebrated finale occurred in Week 1 of the new season. From the 2024 information, College GameDay is showing substantial games among women (up 42%) and 18-to-24 year old viewers (up 59%).

GameDay history

The show began in 1987 to help pad ESPN's burgeoning expansion into the world of college football. It took until 1993 for the network to move the show from its Bristol, Connecticut studio to a variety of roving road locations across college football. By 1995, the studio setting was gone for CGD.

Corso, who had been with the show since its inception, began a new tradition in 1996 of bringing the show to a climax by donning the headgear of the mascot he chose to win the day's big game. The show added yet another tradition in 2009 with celebrity guest pickers, usually personalities or athletes of high local interest to the site of the week's show. Recent episodes have begun a tradition with new personality Pat McAfee offering money to college students if they can successfully kick field goals.

But if the 2025 season does indeed mark a division between the show's nearly 40-year past and its future, so far the viewership numbers are an impressive victory for ESPN. Week 6's show will be in Tuscaloosa for No. 10 Alabama's battle with No. 16 Vanderbilt.