FS1 scored its largest college football audience in nearly a year; NBC’s Notre Dame viewership is trending at a five-year high; ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown is up for the season.
College Football Ratings: OSU Big For FS1
Last Saturday’s Minnesota-Ohio State college football game drew a 1.5 rating and 2.41 million viewers on FS1, marking the outlet’s most-watched regular season game since Oklahoma-Oklahoma State last November (2.49M).
Versus the same window last year, ratings increased 317% and viewership 323% from TCU-Kansas State (0.36, 568K).
FS1 also scored a 0.8 and 1.32 million for Iowa State’s upset of West Virginia — down 42% in ratings and 44% in viewership from Ohio State-Nebraska last year (1.3, 2.38M). The Colorado-USC nightcap had a 0.7 and 1.18 million, up 87% and 69% respectively from last year (Oregon-Stanford: 0.38, 700K).
Bringing up the rear, Purdue-Illinois drew a 0.33 and 501,000 (+68%).
Notre Dame Viewership Up on NBC
NBC scored a 1.8 rating and 2.82 million viewers for Pittsburgh’s near-upset of Notre Dame last Saturday, up 13% in ratings and 7% in viewership from Notre Dame’s fifth home game last season, against NC State (1.6, 2.63M).
Including streaming, NBC is now averaging 3.66 million viewers for Notre Dame coverage this season, up 36% from the same point las year (2.69M) and the highest average since 2013 (3.69M).
ESPN’s Sunday Countdown Up Double-Digits
ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown is averaging 1.29 million viewers through Week 6, up 12% from last year. This past Sunday’s edition had 1.40 million (+18%), the second-largest audience of the season.
According to Sports Business Daily, Sunday Countdown and ESPN’s Fantasy Football Now are the only NFL studio shows up for the season.
Meanwhile, Monday’s Midnight ET edition of SportsCenter, hosted by Scott Van Pelt, had 3.25 million — up 39% from last year (2.34M). The preceding Monday Night Football game was up 41 percent.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 10.16, NBC Sports PR/Twitter 10.16, ESPN PR]
