Despite airing the highest rated college football game in five years, CBS’ SEC coverage was only able to pull even with last year.
CBS averaged a 4.2 rating for SEC football games during the 2011 regular season, even with last year (4.2) and down 5% from 2009 (4.4). The network’s SEC coverage averaged the highest rating of any college football package.
Keep in mind the CBS averages do not include non-SEC fare, such as the Army/Air Force game earlier this season that earned a mere 1.1 rating.
CBS’ season concluded with the December 4 SEC Championship Game between #1 LSU and #14 Georgia. LSU’s win earned a 7.3 final rating and 12.016 million viewers, up 22% in ratings and 19% in viewership from last year (AUB/SC: 6.0, 10.093M), but down 34% and 33%, respectively, from 2009 (ALA/UF: 11.1, 17.969M).
The game ranks as the highest rated SEC Championship Game since 2001 (7.9) that did not feature Alabama against Florida.
CBS aired the three highest rated and most-viewed college football games of the season — the aforementioned LSU/Georgia game, LSU/Arkansas on ‘Black Friday’ (6.3, 10.444M), and LSU/Alabama on November 5 (11.5, 20.011M). For some perspective, ABC’s top game of the season drew a 6.1 and 9.744 million viewers.
Ratings/Viewership For College Football on CBS
During the 2011 regular season
|
WK #
|
Date
|
Time
|
Game
|
Net
|
Rating
|
Viewers (000)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
3
|
Sat., 9/17/11 | 3:30 PM | TEN 23, UF 33 | CBS |
3.0
|
4,616
|
|
4
|
Sat., 9/24/11 | 3:30 PM | ALA 14, ARK 38 | CBS |
2.9
|
4,726
|
|
5
|
Sat., 10/1/11 | 12 PM | AF 35, NAVY 34 | CBS |
1.2
|
1,733
|
| 3:30 PM | AUB 16, SC 13 | CBS |
3.2
|
4,814
|
||
| 8 PM | ALA 38, UF 10 | CBS |
4.6
|
7,593
|
||
|
6
|
Sat., 10/8/11 | 3:30 PM | UF 11, LSU 41 | CBS |
3.2
|
4,912
|
|
7
|
Sat., 10/15/11 | 3:30 PM | LSU 38, TEN 7 | CBS |
2.8
|
4,447
|
|
8
|
Sat., 10/22/11 | 3:30 PM | AUB 10, LSU 45 | CBS |
3.6
|
5,624
|
|
9
|
Sat., 10/29/11 | 3:30 PM | UF 24, UGA 20 | CBS |
3.2
|
5,001
|
|
10
|
Sat., 11/5/11 | 3:30 PM | ARMY 14, AF 24 | CBS |
1.1
|
1,577
|
| 8 PM | LSU 9, ALA 6 | CBS |
11.5
|
20,011
|
||
|
11
|
Sat., 11/12/11 | 12 PM | UF 12, SC 17 | CBS |
1.7
|
2,617
|
| 3:30 PM | AUB 7, UGA 45 | CBS |
2.6
|
4,190
|
||
|
12
|
Sat., 11/19/11 | 3:30 PM | MSSU 17, ARK 44 | CBS |
1.9
|
3,059
|
|
13
|
Fri., 11/25/11 | 2:30 PM | ARK 17, LSU 41 | CBS |
6.3
|
10,444
|
| Sat., 11/26/11 | 3:30 PM | ALA 42, AUB 14 | CBS |
4.5
|
7,508
|
|
|
14
|
Sat., 12/3/11 | 4 PM | UGA 10, LSU 42 | CBS |
7.3
|
12,016
|
|
15
|
Sat., 12/10/11 | 2:30 PM | ARMY 21, NAVY 27 | CBS |
3.7
|
5,501
|
UPDATED 12/20/11: Added final ratings/viewership for Army/Navy game.
(December 4 numbers from Media Life Magazine; season average from CBS Sports press release via Fang?s Bites)
