It was not an especially big draw, but the Wolverines’ latest blowout provided a lift to ESPN.
Saturday’s Maryland/Michigan college football game had a 1.5 final rating and 2.3 million viewers on ESPN, up 36% in ratings and 23% in viewership from Iowa/Indiana last year (1.1, 1.9M). There was no comparable window in 2014 due to NASCAR.
The Wolverines’ 59-3 win was the weekend’s top college football game on cable.
The preceding Vanderbilt/Auburn game had a 1.3 and 2.1 million in the Noon ET window, down 28% in ratings and 25% in viewership from Vanderbilt/Florida last year (1.8, 2.7M) and down a tick but up 6%, respectively, from Wisconsin/Rutgers in 2014 (1.4, 1.9M).
Shifting to primetime, Oregon/USC delivered a 0.9 and 1.5 million — down 55% in ratings and 57% in viewership from Michigan State/Nebraska last year (2.0, 3.5M) and down 74% in both measures from Auburn/Mississippi in ’14 (3.4, 5.8M).
The Washington/Cal nightcap fared better with a 1.2 and 2.0 million, up 20% in ratings and 31% in viewership from Arizona/USC last year (1.0, 1.5M) but down 29% and 21%, respectively, from Arizona/UCLA in ’14 (1.7, 2.6M). The latter game had a big lead-in from the above mentioned Auburn/Mississippi matchup.
In other action, last week’s Oklahoma/Iowa State Thursday night game had 1.4 million viewers — up 18% from Mississippi State/Missouri last year (1.2M) but down 72% from a much-hyped Florida State/Louisville game in ’14 (5.0M).
ESPN2’s top game of the week was Kansas/West Virginia on Saturday night, with a 0.4 and 827,000 viewers — flat in ratings and up 26% in viewership from last year’s comparable game, Navy/Memphis (0.4, 653K). In a rarity, ESPNU topped out with a larger audience, earning 828,000 for FSU/N.C. State in the same Saturday night timeslot.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 11/8)
