The return of the SEC on CBS earned the largest audience of the young college football season, though not by much.
Last Saturday’s Georgia/South Carolina college football game drew a 4.1 final rating and 6.8 million viewers on CBS, down 52% in ratings and 50% in viewership from last year’s much-hyped Alabama/Texas A&M game (8.5, 13.6M), but still the second-highest rated SEC on CBS opener since 2009.
South Carolina’s win ranks as the most-watched college football game of the young season, eclipsing the mark set a week earlier by USC/Stanford on ABC (6.5M). The three most-watched games this season have all started in the afternoon.
No other week three game came close to Georgia/South Carolina, with Tennessee/Oklahoma on ABC’s Saturday Night Football finishing a very distant second (2.2, 3.8M).
Keep in mind Saturday’s game was delayed 90 minutes due to rain, which pushed the conclusion nearly an hour into primetime.
(Wknd. numbers from Sports Business Daily)
