Fox Sports’ improved schedule continues to deliver big increases.
In the first Big Ten conference game ever on Fox Sports, Michigan-Purdue delivered a 2.2 rating and 3.52 million viewers on FOX Saturday — up 29% in ratings and 27% in viewership from TCU-Texas Tech in 2015 (1.7, 2.8M). There was no comparable window last year.
The Wolverines’ win was the top game in its competitive mid-afternoon timeslot, edging USC-Cal on ABC (2.0, 3.1M), Alabama-Vanderbilt on CBS (1.9, 3.0M), and TCU-Oklahoma State on ESPN (1.5, 2.5M).
In primetime, Notre Dame-Michigan State pulled a 2.1 and 3.46 million — up 91% in ratings and 98% in viewership from a delayed Oklahoma State-Baylor game last year (1.1, 1.7M) and up 17% and 16% respectively from Utah-Oregon in 2015 (1.8, 3.0M).
Notre Dame’s easy win was the lowest rated and least-watched game between the rivals since 2007 on NBC (2.0, 2.8M). Compared to their meeting last season, which aired on NBC in primetime, ratings fell 28% from 2.9 and viewership 31% from 5.0 million.
Over on Fox Sports 1, Oklahoma-Baylor had a 0.7 and 1.3 million and Washington-Colorado a 0.6 and 1.0 million. There were no comparable windows last year. The previous night, Utah-Arizona drew a 0.35 and 581,000 (-44%).
[Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 9.26]
