ESPN barely missed a record overnight for its Labor Day college football game.
The Ohio State/Virginia Tech college football game drew a 6.6 overnight rating on ESPN Monday night, up 144% from Miami/Louisville last year (2.7), up 120% from Florida State/Pittsburgh in 2013 (3.0), and the second-highest overnight ever for a Labor Day game on ESPN.
The only Labor Day game to score a higher overnight also involved Virginia Tech, Boise State against the Hokies in 2010 (6.7). Overall, the Buckeyes’ win drew the third-highest Labor Day overnight on any network in the past decade — trailing only Boise State/Virginia Tech in 2010 and Miami/Florida State on ABC in 2005 (7.2).
As one would expect, the game was easily the top draw of college football’s opening week. Saturday’s highest overnight was a 4.3 for Wisconsin/Alabama, Friday’s was a 1.5, and Thursday’s was a 2.1.
Columbus was Monday’s top market with a 43.4 rating, the market’s highest ever for regular season college football on ESPN (dates back to 2001). Cleveland (28.7), Dayton (28.4), Birmingham (19.8) and Richmond (16.3) rounded out the top five.
(Mon. numbers from ESPN Media Zone)
