It was not as big a draw as their titanic 2011 meeting, but LSU-Alabama outrated every regular season college football game since.
LSU-Alabama averaged a 9.7 rating and 16.64 million viewers on the SEC on CBS Saturday afternoon, per Nielsen fast-nationals — marking the highest rated and second-most watched regular season college football game since the teams’ #1 vs. #2 meeting in 2011 (11.5, 20.0M).
The Tigers’ high-scoring win, which peaked with 20.61 million viewers from 7-7:15 PM ET, trails only the 2016 Michigan-Ohio State game in the latter measure (16.84M).
Keep in mind the ‘regular season’ qualifier excludes conference championships, including last year’s Alabama-Georgia SEC Championship Game (10.1, 17.5M). Including conference championships, it ranks third in ratings and viewership since 2011.
Compared to previous LSU-Alabama games, ratings increased 47% and viewership 44% from last year (6.6, 11.54M) and 149% and 147% respectively from 2017 (3.9, 6.73M). Those games aired in primetime, as did every LSU-Alabama meeting dating back to 2011.
Versus the same week eleven window last year, ratings jumped 194% and viewership 207% from Mississippi State-Alabama (3.3, 5.42M).
CBS is now averaging 7.09 million viewers for college football coverage this season (+39%), its highest average at this point of the year since 1990. The network has aired the two most-watched games this season and four of the top six.
As in 2011, LSU-Alabama was a matchup of the nation’s top two teams in the AP Poll. Unlike eight years ago, however, the teams ranked second and third in the College Football Playoff rankings, which take precedence.
The afternoon timeslot was also a change from 2011, when CBS engineered a trade with ESPN to move the game into primetime. The rivals’ previous afternoon meeting — 2010 — averaged a 4.4 and 7.21 million. CBS used its primetime selection on Notre Dame-Georgia this season, which averaged a 5.4 and 9.35 million in September.
To put Saturday’s numbers in perspective, the game averaged a higher rating and more viewers than six of this year’s seven World Series games, including Game 6 (9.6, 16.55M).
[Nielsen estimates from CBS]
