With Clemson dominating again, ACC Championship ratings fell for a fifth-straight year.
Last Saturday’s Clemson-Virginia ACC Championship averaged a 2.4 rating and 3.97 million viewers on ABC, marking the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the game since it last aired on cable in 2012 (Florida State-Georgia Tech: 1.2, 1.97M).
Clemson’s easy win declined a tick in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (Clemson-Pittsburgh: 2.5, 4.24M) and down 25% and 27% respectively from 2017 (Clemson-Miami: 3.2, 5.43M).
Since hitting all-time highs of 6.2 and 10.15 million in 2014 (FSU-Georgia Tech), ratings for the game have declined in each subsequent year and viewership in all-but-one. Ratings have dropped for all seven of Clemson’s appearances (2009, 2011, 2015-19).
The ACC Championship was the lowest rated and least-watched of the “Power 5” conference championships. Keep in mind it faced competition from a strong-performing Big Ten Championship on FOX (Ohio State-Wisconsin: 7.6, 13.55M).
As was the case last year, Clemson’s domination of the ACC took a toll on its television ratings. For the season, only two Clemson games exceeded a 2.5 rating or four million viewers. That compares to five games each for Oklahoma and LSU and six for Ohio State.
ACC Championship ratings/viewership, past decade
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 12.10]
