Before 2024, the most relevant sport in Indiana was basketball, understandably. However, when you add head coach Curt Cignetti into the mix, suddenly, a lot more Hoosiers fans are caring about football.
In the 2024 season, the Indiana Hoosiers were featured on 10 National broadcasts. They were shown on the Big Ten Network six times, NBC once, Peacock once, Fox twice, CBS once, and FS1 once.
When it came to views, however, the Hoosiers were the 18th most-watched team in college football this season according to the College Football Network, which got their results from Nielson totals. The Hoosiers had a total of 34.5 million TV viewers watching their games throughout their 10 national broadcasts.
Indiana's matchup against Ohio State in Week 13, a game that featured ESPN's Collge Gameday, was the most viewed game that week. The Hoosiers suffered their first loss of the season that week at the hands of the Buckeyes.
Indiana's first-round matchup against Notre Dame, which was shown on ESPN and ABC, garnered 13.4 million TV viewers, which was the third most watched matchup of the opening round games.
The success of Indiana is big for the university and the program itself. Not only does this give Indiana the confidence that they can do this again, but it also gives them a spotlight to showcase their talents and look like a premiere program in college football.
Being showcased as much as Indiana did means that players planning to enter the transfer portal and potential recruits were able to see what kind of program they would be joining.