With Ohio State, Wisconsin — and Alabama — vying for a College Football Playoff berth, Big Ten Championship ratings were an unqualified success for FOX.
Saturday’s Ohio State-Wisconsin Big Ten Championship Game earned a 7.3 rating and 12.9 million viewers on FOX, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 38% in ratings and 41% in viewership from Penn State-Wisconsin last year (5.3, 9.2M) and up 28% and 32% respectively from Michigan State-Iowa in 2015 (5.7, 9.8M).
The Buckeyes’ win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched Big Ten title game since Ohio State-Michigan State in 2013 (7.9, 13.9M).
Excluding bowls, it trails only that 2013 game as the highest rated and most-watched college football telecast in Fox Sports history.
For the season, the Big Ten Championship will rank no worse than third in ratings and viewership behind last week’s Alabama-Auburn “Iron Bowl” (7.6, 13.6M) and — based on early projections — Saturday’s SEC Championship. National numbers for the SEC game will not be available until Tuesday, but the Georgia-Auburn matchup delivered an 8.4 in the metered markets, the highest of the season across all networks.
Including the 131,000 who streamed the game on Fox Sports GO, a college football record for the streaming platform, the title game had 13.1 million viewers.
Columbus, Ohio, led all markets with a 48.2 rating, followed by Dayton (31.2), Milwaukee (29.6) and Cleveland (24.8). With Ohio State, Wisconsin and Alabama battling for the final playoff spot, Birmingham, Ala., rounded out the top five with a 20.9.
Big Ten Championship Ratings, Viewership, All-Time
| Year | Game | Margin | Rtg. | Vwrs. |
| 2017 | #4 WISC-#8 OSU | OSU +6 | 7.3 | 12.92M |
| 2016 | #6 WISC-#7 PSU | PSU +7 | 5.3 | 9.19M |
| 2015 | #4 IOWA-#5 MSU | MSU +3 | 5.7 | 9.82M |
| 2014 | #5 OSU-#13 WISC | OSU +59 | 3.5 | 6.13M |
| 2013 | #2 OSU-#10 MSU | MSU +10 | 7.9 | 13.90M |
| 2012 | #12 NEB-WISC | WISC +39 | 2.9 | 5.11M |
| 2011 | #13 MSU-#15 WISC | WISC +3 | 4.6 | 7.78M |
[Numbers from Fox Sports]
