Rivalry games with playoff implications lifted ESPN to its most-watched college football Saturday ever.
ESPN averaged a 2.6 rating and 4.4 million viewers for the total day last Saturday (from 6 AM Saturday to 6 AM Sunday), marking the network’s best-ever performance during the college football regular season (August to December). The previous record was 3.8 million on September 7 of last year, and the record before that was 3.3 million on September 12, 2009.
In particular, the network’s 15 consecutive hours of college football coverage — starting with College Gameday and concluding with the Auburn/Alabama Iron Bowl — averaged a 3.6 and 6.2 million viewers, easily a record for the regular season. The previous mark was 5.6 million last September.
The Iron Bowl was the driving force behind ESPN’s record performance, ranking as the network’s highest rated and most-viewed regular season college football game on record (7.4, 13.5M). Alabama’s win over Auburn actually earned a larger audience than the last five Monday Night Football games.
The Florida/Florida State undercard also did quite well. FSU’s comeback victory earned a 3.5 final rating and 6.0 million viewers, up 169% in ratings and viewership from Penn State/Wisconsin last year (1.3, 2.2M), and the network’s second-best performance of the season in both measures.
The strong performances for the Iron Bowl and Florida/FSU more than made up for a weak appetizer. The Noon ET game between Clemson and South Carolina brought up the rear with a mere 1.3 and 2.0 million, down 35% and 36%, respectively, from FSU/Florida last year (2.0, 3.5M).
In other holiday weekend action, ESPN drew a 1.7 and 3.0 million for Virginia Tech/Virginia last Friday night — up 113% in ratings and 150% in viewership from USF/UCF last year (0.8, 1.2M) and the top Friday night game of the season on any network. The previous highs were a 1.2 and 1.9 million for Pittsburgh/Boston College in week two. ESPN’s also scored a big increase for LSU/Texas A&M on Thanksgiving.
ESPN topped the charts with a 0.5 and 809,000 for last Saturday’s Noon ET Kentucky/Louisville game, flat in ratings and down 1% in viewership from last year’s Duke/North Carolina game (0.5, 818K). ESPNU’s top game was also in the Noon window, as Illinois/Northwestern drew a 0.2 and 252,000 — up 100% and 173%, respectively, from Rutgers/UConn last year (0.1, 92K).
(Wknd. numbers from ESPN Media Zone, Awful Announcing)
