Despite airing a game with playoff implications, Fox Sports 1 was no match for ESPN on Thanksgiving night.
Thursday’s LSU/Texas A&M game drew 2.9 million viewers on ESPN, up 77% from Mississippi/Mississippi State last year (1.6M) and up 52% from TCU/Texas in 2012 (1.9M). LSU’s win ranks as the most-watched Thanksgiving night college football telecast on any network since Texas/Texas A&M om ESPN in 2011 (4.2M).
Head-to-head, LSU/Texas A&M more-than-doubled competing coverage of the TCU/Texas game on Fox Sports 1. TCU’s blowout victory drew 1.3 million viewers, up 27% from last year’s Texas Tech/Texas game (1.0M).
TCU is in contention for the college football playoff, while neither LSU nor Texas A&M is in the running. No amount of playoff implications, however, could make a blowout on Fox Sports 1 come within a mile of a close game on ESPN.
Of course, neither game could come close to the NFL. The primetime Seahawks/49ers match-up drew 22.9 million viewers on NBC.
(Thu. numbers from TV By the Numbers)
