The numbers were not eye-catching, but ESPN delivered some big increases for its college football coverage Saturday.
ESPN scored a 1.5 rating and 2.5 million viewers for LSU-Mississippi State Saturday night, up 25% in ratings and 20% in viewership from Texas A&M-Auburn last year (1.2, 2.1M) but down 37% and 22% respectively from South Carolina-Georgia in an earlier window two years ago (1.9, 3.2M).
The Bulldogs’ blowout win, which had 2.6 million with streaming included, was the weekend’s top college game on cable.
Earlier in the day, Notre Dame-Boston College scored a 1.1 and 1.78 million on ESPN — up 83% in ratings and 78% in viewership from Pittsburgh-Oklahoma State last year (0.6, 1.0M). This year’s Oklahoma State-Pittsburgh rematch kicked the day off with a 1.0 (+66%) and 1.56 million (+64%). With streaming included, those games had 1.85 and 1.62 million respectively.
ESPN2 also scored a big increase Saturday, with its Colorado State-Alabama game (1.0, 1.6M) up 43% in ratings and 35% in viewership over Mississippi state-LSU last year (0.7, 1.2M).
ESPNU topped out at just 415,000 for Kansas State-Vanderbilt Saturday night, down 24% from North Texas-Florida last year (543K).
[Wknd. numbers from ESPN, ShowBuzz Daily 9.19]
