With both teams in the top ten and a playoff spot on the line, Michigan-Ohio State ratings surged despite a lopsided score.
Last Saturday’s Michigan-Ohio State college football game delivered a 7.5 rating and 13.2 million viewers on FOX, up 23% in ratings and 26% in viewership from last year (6.1, 10.5M), but down 20% and 22% respectively from the rivals’ 2016 meeting on ABC (9.4, 16.8M).
The Buckeyes’ blowout win was the third-most watched game between the rivals since at least 1997, behind 2016 and 2006 (21.0M). “The Game” has now topped a 6.0 rating and ten million viewers in four straight years.
For the season, it ranks as the highest rated and most-watched college football game on any network. The previous highs were a 6.6 and 11.5 million for Alabama-LSU on CBS earlier this month.
It also delivered the second-largest college football audience ever on Fox Sports, excluding bowl games, trailing only the 2013 Ohio State-Michigan State Big Ten Championship Game (13.9M).
The 7.5 rating ranks second all-time among Fox Sports college football games — again excluding bowls — behind the 2013 Big Ten title game (7.9).
The game had an additional 145,000 viewers on Fox Sports GO, bringing the combined audience to 13.35 million.
Despite airing at Noon ET, Michigan-Ohio State earned a higher rating and more viewers than both games of last year’s NCAA Tournament Final Four — including Michigan’s win over Loyola-Chicago (7.2, 13.15M). Both of those games aired in primetime, albeit on cable.
The full list of Week 12 college football ratings is available here.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 11.28, Fox Sports PR 11.29]
