The return of the Michigan State/Notre Dame rivalry gave NBC a four-year lift over the weekend.
Saturday’s Michigan State/Notre Dame college football game earned a 2.9 final rating and 5.0 million viewers on NBC, up 21% in ratings and 34% in viewership from Georgia Tech/Notre Dame in the afternoon last year (2.4, 3.7M) and up 7% and 8%, respectively, from Michigan/Notre Dame in primetime two years ago (2.7, 4.6M).
The Spartans’ win ranks as the highest rated Notre Dame telecast on NBC since the rivals’ previous meeting in 2012 (3.2) and the most-watched since a triple-overtime game against Pittsburgh in 2012 (6.0M).
Ratings and viewership were also the second-highest for a primetime Notre Dame telecast on NBC (14 telecasts dating back to 2009), behind only a 2012 game against Michigan (4.0, 6.4M). The top three each pitted Notre Dame against Michigan or Michigan State.
Head-to-head, Saturday’s game trailed competing coverage of Ohio State/Oklahoma on FOX (3.4, 5.8M) but topped USC/Stanford on ABC (1.8, 2.9M). It was one of several games to score strong numbers in week three, with Alabama/Mississippi earning the second-best numbers of the season, Florida State/Louisville scoring ABC’s top early season Noon audience since 2003, and Ohio State/Oklahoma delivering the third-largest regular season audience ever on FOX.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 9/20)
