After a solid start to the season, a low-profile opponent sank Notre Dame on NBC last weekend.
Last Saturday’s Massachusetts/Notre Dame college football game had 2.0 million viewers on NBC, down 36% from Purdue/Notre Dame in primetime last year (3.1M) and down 49% from Oklahoma/Notre Dame in the afternoon two years ago (3.9M). The rating was not immediately available.
The game unsurprisingly ranks as the least-watched Notre Dame telecast of the season (four telecasts). The previous three drew 3.7 million (vs. Georgia Tech), 5.7 million (at Virginia) and 4.1 million (vs. Texas). Only one Notre Dame game all of last year had as small an audience — the annual rivalry game with USC, which aired on FOX.
It was also the least-watched college football game on broadcast last weekend, displacing usual bottom-dweller FOX. Head-to-head, it trailed Tennessee/Georgia on CBS (4.6M), regional coverage on ABC (3.7M), TCU/Texas Tech on FOX (2.8M) and Oklahoma State/Texas on ESPN (2.4M).
(Sat. numbers via Sports Business Daily)
