Oregon vs. Ohio State (Jan. 12, 2015): The first ever College Football Playoff National Championship saw Oregon defeat Ohio State as 33,395,000 viewers tuned in, becoming the new most-watched program in cable history. (Scott Clarke/ESPN Images)
Oregon vs. Auburn (Jan. 10, 2011): ESPN’s most-watched telecast of the BCS era (27,316,000 viewers) featured Auburn quarterback Cam Newton leading the Tigers to a 22-19 victory over Oregon in 2011 BCS National Championship game. (Joe Faraoni/ESPN Images)
Alabama vs. Notre Dame (Jan. 7, 2013): In a battle of rich college football tradition, Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron led the Crimson Tide to a 42-14 victory over Notre Dame in the 2013 BCS National Championship as an audience of 26,380,000 million viewers watched. The victory resulted in Alabama’s second consecutive national championship and third in four years. (Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images)
TCU vs. Wisconsin (Jan. 1, 2011): The Rose Bowl Game in 2011 (20,558,000 viewers) saw TCU defeat Wisconsin 21-19 as quarterback Andy Dalton was named the game’s offensive MVP. (Scott Clarke/ESPN)
Green Bay vs. Minnesota (Oct. 5, 2009): ESPN’s largest NFL audience ever (21,839,000) watches future Hall of Famer Brett Favre play his first game against his former Packers team as the Minnesota Vikings defeat Green Bay 30-23 on Monday Night Football. (Scott Clarke/ESPN Images)
Arizona vs. Carolina (Jan. 3, 2015): An audience of 21,678,000 watches the first NFL Playoff game in ESPN’s 35-year history as Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers defeat the Arizona Cardinals, 27-16, in the Wild Card round. (Scott Clarke/ESPN Images)
ESPN was the most-watched cable network in primetime in 2014. The network followed up that milestone with its most-viewed week ever (Monday, Dec. 29, 2014 – Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015), while televising the Top 3, and four of the Top 9, most-watched programs in cable history, according to Nielsen, over the past 11 days. With last night’s Oregon-Ohio State College Football Playoff National Championship setting a new cable viewership record, ESPN telecasts now claim every spot in cable’s all-time Top 20 (chart below). The photo gallery above highlights some of the memorable college football and NFL games on the list.
| Top 20 Most-Viewed Programs in Cable Television (Viewers) | ||||
| Rank | Date | Program | Network | Viewers (000s) |
| 1 | 1/12/15 | CFB/National Championship: Oregon-Ohio State^ | ESPN | 33,395 |
| 2 | 1/1/15 | CFB/Sugar Bowl: Alabama-Ohio St. ^^ | ESPN | 28,271 |
| 3 | 1/1/15 | CFB/Rose Bowl: Oregon-Florida St. ^^ | ESPN | 28,164 |
| 4 | 1/10/11 | CFB/BCS Champ: Oregon-Auburn | ESPN | 27,316 |
| 5 | 1/7/13 | CFB/BCS Champ: Alabama-Notre Dame | ESPN | 26,380 |
| 6 | 1/6/14 | CFB/BCS Champ: Florida St.-Auburn | ESPN | 25,572 |
| 7 | 1/9/12 | CFB/BCS Champ: Alabama-LSU | ESPN | 24,214 |
| 8 | 10/5/09 | NFL MNF: Green Bay-Minnesota | ESPN | 21,839 |
| 9 | 1/3/15 | NFL Wild Card: Arizona-Carolina^^^ | ESPN | 21,678 |
| 10 | 11/30/09 | NFL MNF: New England-New Orleans | ESPN | 21,402 |
| 11 | 1/1/11 | CFB/Rose Bowl: TCU-Wisconsin | ESPN | 20,558 |
| 12 | 12/27/10 | NFL MNF: New Orleans-Atlanta | ESPN | 19,137 |
| 13 | 10/27/14 | NFL MNF: Washington-Dallas | ESPN | 18,809 |
| 14 | 1/1/14 | CFB/Rose Bowl: Stanford-Michigan State | ESPN | 18,636 |
| 15 | 9/15/08 | NFL MNF: Philadelphia-Dallas | ESPN | 18,608 |
| 16 | 10/25/10 | NFL MNF: NY Giants-Dallas | ESPN | 17,953 |
| 17 | 1/2/12 | CFB/Rose Bowl: Wisconsin-Oregon | ESPN | 17,558 |
| 18 | 12/3/07 | NFL MNF: New England-Baltimore | ESPN | 17,522 |
| 19 | 9/27/10 | NFL MNF: Green Bay-Chicago | ESPN | 17,454 |
| 20 | 10/11/10 | NFL MNF: Minnesota-NY Jets | ESPN | 17,313 |
| ^ = College Football Playoff National Championship | ||||
| ^^ = College Football Playoff Semifinal | ||||
| ^^^ = NFL Playoffs | ||||
Bill Hofheimer contributed to this post