NBC’s Notre Dame ratings continue to rise, but last week’s top ten matchup against Stanford was no match for the competition.
Last Saturday’s Stanford-Notre Dame college football game earned a 2.1 rating and 3.44 million viewers on NBC, up 31% in ratings and viewership from Notre Dame’s fourth NBC appearance last season, an afternoon matchup against NC State in week nine (1.6, 2.63M).
Compared to NBC’s second primetime Notre Dame game last season, against USC in week eight, ratings increased 17% (from 1.8) and viewership 15% (from 2.99M).
Notre Dame’s win, which peaked with 3.93 million from 8:45-9 PM ET, had a combined TV and streaming audience of 3.48 million.
Despite the increase, ratings and viewership were well below what one would expect for a top ten matchup involving Notre Dame. The last such game was Notre Dame against Miami on ABC last season, which had a 3.9 and 6.73 million on ABC. Prior to that, Notre Dame-Florida State in 2014 had a 7.9 and 13.3 million, also on ABC.
Notre Dame’s last top ten matchup on NBC was the team’s 2005 matchup against USC, which had a 6.7 and 10.0 million.
NBC had a bit of bad luck last weekend as Stanford-Notre Dame aired opposite a higher-profile top ten matchup, Ohio State-Penn State on ABC (5.3, 9.14M). While Notre Dame pulled away from Stanford in a rout, the Buckeyes’ comeback win was a closer, more compelling affair.
Compared to previous games in the Stanford-Notre Dame rivalry, ratings declined 30% and viewership 35% from last year’s late season matchup on ABC (3.0, 5.26M), but increased 17% and 20% respectively from their 2016 meeting on NBC (1.8, 2.87M). This year’s game ranks as the rivals’ most-watched on NBC since 2012 (5.12M) and second-most watched since 1994.
NBC’s Notre Dame coverage is now averaging 3.84 million viewers (including streaming), up a third from the comparable point last year (2.88M) and the network’s best four-game average since 2012 (4.48M).
The full list of week five college football ratings is available here.
[Numbers from Nielsen via NBC Sports PR 10.2]
