With the undefeated defending champions on the ropes and a playoff appearance on the line, the ACC Championship Game soared to a record audience.
Saturday’s Florida State/Georgia Tech ACC Championship Game drew a 6.2 final rating and 10.1 million viewers, up 82% in ratings and 79% in viewership from FSU/Duke last year (3.4, 5.7M), up 417% and 416%, respectively, from FSU/Georgia Tech in 2012 (1.2, 2.0M), and easily the highest rated and most-watched ACC title game ever.
The previous highs were a 5.1 and 7.6 million for the inaugural 2005 game between FSU and Virginia Tech.
FSU’s win earned the second-highest rating and viewership on ABC this season, trailing only another FSU game — the top-five clash against Notre Dame in October (7.9, 13.3M). ABC’s three highest rated and most-viewed games involved Florida State, each part of the network’s Saturday Night Football franchise.
Boosted by those strong performances, Saturday Night Football finished the season averaging a 3.8 rating and 6.2 million viewers — up 9% in ratings and 8% in viewership from last year (3.5, 5.8M). The full 34-game schedule on ABC (not including Saturday’s early game between TCU and Iowa State) averaged a 3.2 and 5.1 million viewers, up 7% in both measures from last year (3.0, 4.8M).
(Sat. numbers from Media Life Magazine; season avg. from ESPN Media Zone)
