SEC Championship ratings hit a four-year high in the metered markets.
CBS scored an 8.4 overnight rating for Saturday’s Georgia-Auburn SEC title game, up 20% from last year (7.0) and up a tick from 2015 (8.3), both of which pitted Alabama against Florida.
The Bulldogs’ win, which peaked with a 9.7 from 6:30-7 PM ET, delivered the highest overnight for the SEC title game since Auburn’s previous appearance — 2013 against Missouri (8.7).
The 8.4 is also the highest college football overnight on any network all season, ahead of the Ohio State-Wisconsin Big Ten Championship on FOX later that night (8.0). The SEC on CBS delivered two of the three largest overnights all season, with the previous week’s Alabama-Auburn Iron Bowl ranking third (7.8).
In other action Saturday, the Clemson-Miami ACC Championship had a 3.7 overnight on ABC — up a tick from Clemson-Virginia Tech last year (3.6) but down 20% from Clemson-North Carolina in 2015 (4.6). The 3.7 edges only last year as the lowest for the game since 2012.
Of Saturday’s four Power 5 conference title games, the Tigers’ win ranked dead last — trailing the aforementioned SEC and Big Ten contests and the Big 12 Championship on FOX earlier in the day (4.3).
Outside of the Power 5, the UCF-Memphis American Athletic Championship had a 2.5 on ABC — up 56% from Temple-Navy last year (1.6) and up 25% from Houston-Temple in ’15. Overnights for conference title games on cable were not available.
Fast-nationals for the Big Ten and Big 12 title games were released yesterday. Details on those games are available here (Big Ten) and here (Big 12).
[Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily 12.4]
