Fox Sports 1 edged ESPNU in college football viewership last week, but finished well behind ESPN and ESPN2. In other news, NBC had its second-lowest rated Notre Dame opener in at least 15 years, and third round coverage of the Deutsche Bank Championship put up solid numbers despite a modest decline.
FS1 NCAA Viewership Way Behind ESPN, ESPN2
- Fox Sports 1 averaged 493,000 viewers for five college football games during week one of the season, according to Sports Business Daily — trailing ESPN (3.4M) and ESPN2 (1.3M) by a wide margin, but slightly ahead of ESPNU (418K). The network’s top game of the opening week was Boise State/Washington Saturday night, which earned 710,000 viewers. North Dakota State/Kansas State last Friday night (585K) was the network’s only other game to top 500,000 viewers. (Sports Business Daily, with additional info from ESPN Media Zone)
NBC Has Second-Lowest Rated Notre Dame Opener Since At Least ’98
- NBC earned a 1.6 final rating and 2.5 million viewers for the Temple/Notre Dame college football game last Saturday, down 16% in ratings and 11% in viewership from the Purdue/Notre Dame home opener last year (1.9, 2.8M), and down 24% and 23%, respectively, the South Florida/Notre Dame opener in 2011 (2.1, 3.2M). Saturday’s game ranks as the second-lowest rated Notre Dame home opener since at least 1998, ahead of only Nevada/Notre Dame in 2009 (1.3). Of note, the game was also the biggest blowout in a Notre Dame home opener since ’09. (NBC Sports)
Deutsche Bank Third Round Down, But Solid
- Third round coverage of the PGA Tour Deutsche Bank Championship drew a 2.2 final rating and 3.2 million viewers on NBC last Sunday, down 8% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year. Excluding majors, the telecast earned the third-largest audience of the season for third round action, trailing only coverage of the Bridgestone Invitational on CBS and the Cadillac Championship on NBC — tournaments won by Tiger Woods. Final numbers were not immediately available for Monday’s final round. (NBC Sports)
