ESPN put up strong numbers on the opening Thursday of the season, but its first Saturday was one to forget.
Saturday’s BYU-LSU college football game scored a 1.0 rating and 1.8 million viewers on ESPN, down 62% in ratings and 63% in viewership from Clemson-Auburn in the same window last year (2.6, 4.7M). There was no comparable window in 2015.
The Tigers’ win aired opposite Alabama-Florida State on ABC, the most-watched opening weekend game in at least 21 years. It ranked third in primetime behind that game and Purdue-Louisville on the FOX broadcast network (1.1, 1.8M).
Despite the low numbers, it was ESPN’s top college football game of the day. Earlier, Appalachian State-Georgia pulled a 0.9 and 1.7 million — down 53% in ratings and 51% in viewership from Georgia-North Carolina last year (1.9, 3.5M) and down 36% and 30% respectively from Arizona State-Texas A&M in 2015 (1.4, 2.5M).
In the afternoon, Kent State-Clemson pulled a 1.0 (-23%) and 1.6 million (-23%), while N.C. State-South Carolina followed with a 0.9 and 1.6 million.
In a rarity, ESPN did not deliver the day’s top college football audience on cable. That distinction went to Maryland-Texas on Fox Sports 1 (2.0M). In another rarity, none of ESPN’s actual games earned as large an audience as College Gameday (also 2.0M).
[Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 9.6]
