Last week’s edition of primetime college football on FOX suffered a decline in ratings and viewership. In other news, ESPN had a big drop for Northwestern/Michigan last week, and TNT had more declines for NBA coverage.
- Big Decline For College Football on FOX: Last Saturday’s Kansas State/TCU college football game drew a 1.9 final rating and 2.998 million viewers on FOX, down 32% in ratings and 34% in viewership from Oregon/Southern Cal the previous week (2.8, 4.505M), but up 19% in both measures from Kansas State/West Virginia three weeks ago (1.6, 2.521M). The telecast was trounced head-to-head by Notre Dame/Boston College on ABC (3.6, 5.755M). (Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
- Ratings, Viewership, Plunge For Northwestern/Michigan: ESPN drew a 1.8 U.S. rating and 2.591 million viewers for the Noon ET Northwestern/Michigan college football game last Saturday, down 50% in ratings and 52% in viewership from Nebraska/Penn State last year (3.6, 5.426M), but up 13% and 4%, respectively, from Iowa/Northwestern in 2010 (1.6, 2.483M). Last year’s game was the first for Penn State since the Jerry Sandusky scandal. ESPN’s top game last week was Oregon/Cal in the late night window, which earned a 2.3 and 3.657 million. (Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
- More Declines For NBA on TNT: Thursday’s Celtics/Nets NBA regular season game drew 1.408 million viewers on TNT, down 67% from Celtics/Heat in 2010 (4.230M), and down 45% from Cavaliers/Heat in 2009 (2.564M). Later in the night, Heat/Nuggets drew 1.590 million viewers — down 45% from Nuggets/Lakers in 2010 (2.872M), and down 26% from Suns/Lakers in 2009 (2.148M). Last year’s Celtics/Magic and Knicks/Lakers doubleheader was canceled due to the owners’ lockout. Five of the seven NBA games on TNT this season have been down from 2010.(Thursday’s numbers from The Futon Critic)
