The penultimate season of the SEC on CBS is off to a strong start, topping college football’s ratings charts in each of its first three weeks.
Alabama-Arkansas averaged a 3.2 rating and 5.83 million viewers on the SEC on CBS over the weekend, marking the largest college football audience of the weekend and the most-watched game between the teams since 2010. Ratings and viewership increased double-digits over Mississippi-Alabama last year (2.7, ~4.8M).
For the season, the Crimson Tide’s win ranks fifth among all college football games. An SEC team has played in five of the top six games this season.
The SEC on CBS has topped the charts in each of its three weeks on-air, though it should be noted that in one of those three weeks the series featured a Big Ten team (Penn State against Auburn in Week 3).
Ranking second for the weekend, NC State-Clemson drew a combined 2.8 and 4.98 million across ABC (2.65, 4.73M) and ESPN2 (0.13, 251K) — up double-digits from last year on ABC alone (Indiana-Penn State: 2.3, ~4M). FOX placed third with a 2.4 and 420 million for Michigan-Iowa on “Big Noon Saturday,” down slightly from Michigan-Wisconsin last year (2.5, ~4.3M).
ESPN rounded out the top five with 2.79 million for both Kentucky-Mississippi and LSU-Auburn, down from last year’s equivalent windows (Arkansas-Georgia: ~3.9M; Florida-Kentucky: ~3.1M).
Ranking just outside of the top five were ABC’s two afternoon games, Wake Forest-FSU at a 1.4 and 2.48 million and Oklahoma-TCU at a 1.4 and 2.47 million. FOX was not far behind with a 1.35 and 2.41 million for Oklahoma State-Baylor. Bringing up the rear on broadcast TV was Navy-Air Force on CBS at a 0.8 and 1.13 million.
Returning to cable, Big Ten Network topped out at 1.79 million for Rutgers-Ohio State, FS1 at a 0.48 and 904,000 for Michigan State-Maryland and ESPN2 at a 0.45 and 865,000 for Iowa State-Kansas — each up sharply from last year’s equivalent windows.
The full list of Week 5 ratings and viewership is available on the college football ratings page.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 10.4)
