College Football Playoff 2016: Ratings for Peach Bowl, Fiesta Bowl Revealed

Perhaps New Year's Eve isn't the ratings killer some thought. ESPN announced double-digit gains in viewership for its College Football Playoff telecasts from Saturday night, with a massive increase in streaming audience.

The semifinals averaged an 11.0 rating, an increase of 11 percent from 2015's broadcasts. Alabama's Peach Bowl win over Washington was responsible for a majority of that increase, with ESPN's broadcast seeing a 17 percent uptick from the first semifinal last season.

Clemson's win over Ohio State was up only 5 percent, though that may have been a result of the Tigers' 31-0 drubbing of the Buckeyes.

Streaming numbers were at all-time highs across the board. Both games saw double-digit increases in average minute audience, unique viewers and total minutes watched. Alabama vs. Washington saw a 40 percent increase in total minutes watched, compared to a 32 percent uptick in Clemson vs. Ohio State.

The games combined to be the most streamed non-championship college football games in history.

Total viewership for the games is not yet available. However, these ratings may make it appear that NCAA officials were overzealous in moving games away from the New Year's Eve holiday.

Dates for semifinal games in 2018, 2019, 2024 and 2025 were moved away from New Year's Eve in attempt to avoid a ratings tank like the one from 2015. Ratings took a massive nosedive from the inaugural College Football Playoff last season, and many people attributed that to people being out for the holiday rather than staying home.

"We just took our time, looked at the data and realized that we had tried to do something special on New Year's Eve, but we could do better. I'm so happy because this is so great for the fans," CFP executive director Bill Hancock told reporters at the time.

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