Alabama-LSU ratings hit a decade-plus low in the metered markets.
Saturday’s LSU-Alabama college football game scored a 3.7 overnight rating on CBS, down 38% from last year (6.0), down 41% from 2015 (6.3), and the lowest for the rivalry since at least 2006 — the last year it was televised by ESPN.
The previous low over that span was a 4.2 for the 2007 game on CBS, which aired in the afternoon.
The 3.7 is also the lowest for a primetime SEC game on CBS since at least 2006. The previous low was a 4.2 for Florida-LSU in 2008. Despite the multi-year lows, Alabama’s win was the top college football game of the weekend on any network.
Ohio State-Iowa ranked second for the weekend with a 2.5 overnight on ESPN, up 56% from Maryland-Michigan in the same window last year. It easily topped the competing Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game on FS1 (1.6).
ESPN also drew a 1.6 for Auburn-Texas A&M (+23%), a 1.2 for Texas-TCU (+9%) and a 1.3 for Arizona-USC (last year’s comparable figures unavailable).
Over on ABC, Virginia Tech-Miami scored a 2.2 on Saturday Night Football — down 27% from both Nebraska-Ohio State last year and Minnesota-Ohio State in 2015 (3.0). After a strong start to the season, it was the third of ABC’s past four Saturday night games to decline.
In the afternoon, ABC also pulled a 2.0 for Clemson-N.C. State (+11%) and a 1.9 for Wisconsin-Indiana (+6%).
[Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily 11.6, ESPN, Fox Sports PR/Twitter 11.5]
