For the second straight week, ESPN attracted impressive numbers for college football coverage.
ESPN had its most-viewed college football Saturday* ever last weekend, averaging 3.8 million viewers over the full 24-hour period. In particular, the network averaged a 3.5 U.S. rating and 5.6 million viewers for 15 hours of college football coverage that started with “College Gameday” and ended with the Notre Dame/Michigan game.
As previously reported, Notre Dame/Michigan led the way with a 5.3 U.S. rating and 8.7 million viewers. The game ranked as ESPN’s fourth-most viewed regular season college football telecast.
Earlier in the day, the network scored a 4.3 U.S. rating and 7.0 million viewers for South Carolina/Georgia — up 48% in ratings and 55% in viewership from Florida/Texas A&M in an earlier slot last year (2.9, 4.5M), and up 79% and 78%, respectively, from South Carolina/Georgia in the same timeslot two years ago (2.4, 3.9M).
Along with Notre Dame/Michigan, South Carolina/Georgia outdrew every regular season game on ESPN last year. Last year’s season-highs were a 3.7 rating and 6.0 million viewers for South Carolina/LSU.
The early Miami/Florida game drew a 3.1 U.S. rating and nearly 4.6 million viewers, up 82% in ratings and 88% in viewership from Auburn/Mississippi State last year (1.7, 2.5M), and up 94% and 125%, respectively, from Oregon State/Wisconsin in 2011 (1.6, 2.0M).
Overall, the three games averaged 6.8 million viewers.
* Regular season only
