Ratings plunged for an SEC tripleheader on ESPN last weekend.
Last Saturday’s Mississippi-LSU college football game drew a 1.1 rating and 2.02 million viewers on ESPN, down 39% in ratings and a third in viewership from last year (Mississippi-Alabama: 1.8, 3.03M) but up 57% and 97% respectively from a later window in 2016 (Arizona-UCLA: 0.7, 1.03M).
Despite the steep drop, LSU’s win posted a 7% increase in viewership over last year’s meeting between the rivals, which also aired on ESPN (1.89M).
Earlier in the evening, Florida-Mississippi State had a 1.1 and 1.90 million — down 21% in ratings and 20% in viewership from last year (Mississippi State-Auburn: 1.4, 2.38M) and down 42% and 40% respectively from 2016 (Kentucky-Alabama: 1.9, 3.19M).
Both games faced competition from a pair of top ten matchups on the broadcast networks. ABC scored a season-high 5.3 and 9.14 million for Ohio State-Penn State and NBC chipped in a 2.1 and 3.44 million for Stanford-Notre Dame.
Rounding out a clean sweep of declines, ESPN also scored a 1.0 and 1.60 million for Arkansas-Texas A&M earlier in the day — down 44% in ratings and 43% in viewership from last year (Vanderbilt-Florida: 1.8, 2.82M) and down 29% and 24% respectively from 2016 (Notre Dame-Syracuse: 1.4, 2.10M).
ESPN’s College Gameday stated the day off with 1.58 million (+5%).
As for the other ESPN networks, ESPN2 topped out at a 0.7 and 1.15 million for West Virginia-Texas Tech — up 79% in ratings and 98% in viewership from last year (UNC-Georgia Tech: 0.39, 578K). ESPN2 also crossed the million mark for FSU-Louisville later in the afternoon, earning a 0.7 (+63%) and 1.06 million (+58%).
ESPNU’s top game of the weekend was Iowa State-TCU Saturday night, with just 366,000 (-57%).
The full list of week five college football ratings is available here.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 10.2]
