The Notre Dame-USC rivalry hit a six-year ratings high on ABC.
Last Saturday’s Notre Dame-USC college football game delivered a 4.4 rating and 7.74 million viewers on ABC, up 47% in ratings and viewership from last year (Notre Dame-Stanford: 3.0, 5.26M) and up 22% and 20% respectively from 2016 (Florida-FSU: 3.6, 6.44M).
Notre Dame’s win delivered the fifth-best rating and viewership of the college football season, with three of the top five coming on Saturday alone.
It also generated the largest Notre Dame football audience in more than two years — since the team’s 2016 opener against Texas on ABC. That game aired on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend (6.4, 10.95M).
Compared to previous Notre Dame-USC games, ratings increased 144% and viewership 159% from last year’s midseason matchup on NBC (1.8, 2.99M). Compared to the 2016 game, which aired on ABC in the afternoon, ratings and viewership increased 29% and 36% respectively (from a 3.4 and 5.70 million).
This year’s matchup was the highest rated and most-watched Notre Dame-USC game since 2012, when then-#1 Notre Dame clinched a trip to the BCS National Championship Game (9.4, 16.1M). This time around, #3 Notre Dame all-but-clinched a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Including streaming viewership, the game had 7.81 million.
In other week thirteen action on ABC, Florida-Florida State drew a 1.5 and 2.38 million Saturday afternoon — down 12% in ratings and 14% in viewership from last year (Georgia-Georgia Tech: 1.7, 2.77M). ABC had Michigan-Ohio State in that window two years ago (9.4, 16.8M).
Maryland-Penn State drew a 1.3 (-13%) and 2.18 million (-16%) later in the day.
On Black Friday, Virginia-Virginia Tech scored 3.55 million viewers (-23%). Ratings were not immediately available. Nor were figures available for the network’s Houston-Memphis game earlier in the day.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 11.28, ESPN PR]
