With the college football playoff semifinals returning to New Year’s Day, ratings on ESPN jumped from last year when the games aired on New Year’s Eve.

ESPN said 26.8 million people watched the 2018 Rose Bowl Monday as Georgia beat Oklahoma 54-48 in overtime; with an audience up 39% from last year's Rose Bowl, the game was the fifth most watched cable telecast of all time.

Related: Georgia-Oklahoma Rose Bowl Telecast Scores on Social Media

The Georgia-Oklahoma game trailed only the 2015 Championship game between Oregon and Ohio State, the 2011 Championship game between Oregon and Auburn, and the two semi-final games in 2015, the last time the games were played on New Year’s Day.

Monday’s other semifinal, the 2018 Sugar Bowl with Alabama beating Clemson 24-6, drew 21.1 million viewers, up 10% from the comparable game last year.

Related: Four Trends in Play for Cable Sports

ESPN aired a total of six bowl games on Monday and said they averaged nearly 15 million viewers. The network anticipates the games will comprise the most-watched "New Year’s Eve Six" ever once the streaming audience is fully reported.

The currently available metrics show viewership up 9% from last year and up 24% from the 2015 season.

ESPN dramatic Georgia-Oklahoma Rose Bowl telecast led what were huge social media numbers for college football bowl games on New Year’s Day. 

Georgia’s double overtime win over Oklahoma to secure a spot in the College Playoff championship game generated 8.5 million Facebook and Twitter interactions to top all TV shows airing on Jan. 1, according to Nielsen’s Social Content Ratings Daily report.

ESPN’s Alabama-Clemson Sugar Bowl telecast drew 5.2 million social media interactions. Alabama defeated last year’s champion Clemson to advance to the College Playoff Championship game for the third straight year.

ESPN’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (3.1 million social media interactions), ESPN2’s Outback Bowl (1.6 million) and ABC’s Citrus Bowl (1.1 million) rounded out the top five. 

On the entertainment front, USA’s WWE Monday Night Raw was the most social show for the day, drawing 545,000 Facebook and Twitter interactions, according to Nielsen.