For at least a few hours — until the numbers for Bills/Patriots and Chargers/Raiders become available — Saturday’s USC/Ohio State game ranks as the top sporting event of the year on cable.
USC’s victory over Ohio State drew a 6.3 U.S. rating and 10.6 million viewers on ESPN Saturday night, up 47% in ratings and 52% in viewers from a 4.3 and 7 million for Miami/Florida on the comparable night last year.
Saturday’s game ranks as the most-viewed college football game in the 30-year history of ESPN. The previous record holder was Miami/Florida State in ’06 (9.1 million). In the span of less than a week, ESPN drew two of its three largest college football audiences — Miami/Florida State on Labor Day drew 8.4 million, currently the third-most viewed college football game ever on ESPN.
Additionally, USC/Ohio State is tied as the highest-rated sporting event of the year on cable, and stands alone as the most-viewed.
Compared to last year’s Ohio State/USC game on ABC, this year’s game was down 10% and 11%, respectively, from a 7.0 and 11.9 million.
Most-viewed sporting events of ’09 on cable
| # | Date | Event | Net | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Sat., 9/12/09 | USC/Ohio State | ESPN |
10.6 mil
|
|
2
|
Tue., 5/26/09 | Cavaliers/Magic Game 4 | TNT |
10.1 mil
|
|
3
|
Thu., 5/28/09 | Magic/Cavaliers Game 5 | TNT |
10.0 mil
|
|
4
|
Mon., 5/25/09 | Lakers/Nuggets Game 4 | ESPN |
9.7 mil
|
|
5
|
Wed., 5/27/09 | Nuggets/Lakers Game 5 | ESPN |
9.2 mil
|
|
6
|
Sun., 5/24/09 | Cavaliers/Magic Game 3 | TNT |
9.0 mil
|
|
7
|
Fri., 5/29/09 | Lakers/Nuggets Game 6 | ESPN |
8.5 mil
|
|
T-8
|
Mon., 9/7/09 | Miami/Florida State | ESPN |
8.4 mil
|
|
T-8
|
Sun., 5/17/09 | Magic/Celtics Game 7 | TNT |
8.4 mil
|
|
T-8
|
Sat., 5/30/09 | Cavaliers/Magic Game 6 | TNT |
8.4 mil
|
|
9
|
Mon., 7/13/09 | MLB Home Run Derby | ESPN |
8.3 mil
|
|
10
|
Tue., 5/19/09 | Nuggets/Lakers Game 1 | ESPN |
8.1 mil
|
