After a year of higher ratings, Saturday Night Football ended the season with a double-digit decline.
The last Saturday Night Football telecast of the season, the Big 12 Championship Game between Missouri and Oklahoma, drew a 5.5/10 final rating and 8.8 million viewers, down 17% and 19% respectively from a 6.6/12 and 10.8 million for the same game in ’07.
Ratings peaked early at a 6.8/12 from 8:30-8:45 PM. From 8:06-10 PM, the game averaged a 6.4 rating. From 10-11:30 PM, as Oklahoma blew out Missouri, the game averaged a 4.4.
For the season, ABC averaged a 4.9 rating for thirteen Saturday Night Football telecasts, up 19% from a 4.1 for twelve telecasts in ’07, and down only 2% from a 5.0 in 2006.
The highest rated Saturday Night Football telecast was Texas/Texas Tech, which drew a 7.5 rating in early November. The lowest rated game was Georgia/Arizona State in mid-September, which drew a 2.7.
2008 Saturday Night Football ratings.
3.6: Clemson/Alabama or Mich. St./Cal (Sat., 8/30, 8 PM ABC); up 9% from ’07.
7.0: Ohio State/USC (Sat., 9/13, 8 PM ABC); up 56% from ’07.
2.7: Georgia/Arizona State (Sat., 9/20, 8 PM ABC); down 16% from ’07.
3.6: Illinois/Penn St. or Va. Tech/Nebraska (Sat., 9/27, 8 PM ABC); even with ’07.
4.2: Ohio St./Wisconsin or Oregon/USC (Sat., 10/4, 8 PM ABC); up 45% from ’07.
3.1: Missouri/Texas (Sat., 10/18, 8 PM ABC); up 3% from ’07.
6.4: Ohio State/Penn State (Sat., 10/25, 8 PM ABC); up 39% from ’07.
7.5: Texas/Texas Tech (Sat., 11/1, 8 PM ABC); up 83% from ’07.
5.3: Ok. St./Texas Tech or Cal/USC (Sat., 11/8, 8 PM ABC); up 36% from ’07.
2.9: BC/FSU or Ok. St./Colorado (Sat., 11/15, 8 PM ABC); down 12% from ’07.
6.6: Texas Tech/Oklahoma (Sat., 11/22, 8 PM ABC); even with ’07.
5.7: Oklahoma/Oklahoma St. (Sat., 11/29, 8 PM ABC); down 14% from ’07.*
5.5: Missouri/Oklahoma (Sat., 12/6, 8 PM ABC); down 17% from ’07.**
*compared to Missouri/Kansas, which aired a week earlier in ’07.
** compared to last year’s Big 12 Championship Game.
