After hitting a ratings low last year, the Florida State/Miami rivalry bounced back last weekend.
FSU/Miami earned a 3.2 final rating and 5.5 million viewers on ABC’s Saturday Night Football last weekend, up 39% in ratings and 58% in viewership from the same matchup last year, which was the lowest rated edition of the rivalry since 2003 (2.3, 3.5M), and up 14% and 21%, respectively, from Nebraska/Michigan State in 2014 (2.8, 4.6M).
Figures excluded Florida markets Orlando, Jacksonville and West Palm Beach due to a recent hurricane.
Florida State’s win ranked second for the weekend among college football games, behind only Tennessee/Texas A&M on CBS (3.9, 6.6M). Figures do not include streaming viewership on WatchESPN; with those numbers added to the mix, the game had 5.6 million viewers.
Notre Dame/N.C. State scored a 2.4 and 3.7 million viewers earlier in the day, down 27% in ratings and 25% in viewership from Texas/Oklahoma last year (3.3, 5.0M) but up 9% and 11%, respectively, from Ohio State/Maryland in 2014 (2.2, 3.3M). Compared to this year’s Texas/Oklahoma game, which aired in the competing window on Fox Sports 1, the Wolfpack’s win had a 41% advantage in ratings (vs. 1.7) and a 33% advantage in viewership (vs. 2.8M).
Rounding out ABC’s tripleheader, regional action had a 2.0 and 3.3 million — down 9% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (2.2, 3.5M) and down 13% and 9%, respectively, from 2014 (2.3, 3.6M).
As with FSU/Miami, some local markets were excluded from both afternoon windows. Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Norfolk were all missing from the data, not insignificant considering the games included N.C. State, North Carolina and Virginia Tech.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 10/11, ESPN Media Zone 10/11)
