Nebraska football was overshadowed in the ratings by its women’s volleyball counterpart on Saturday.
Saturday’s five-set #1 vs. #2 Wisconsin-Nebraska women’s college volleyball match averaged a 0.27 rating and 612,000 viewers on BTN, marking the largest regular season college volleyball audience on record. The previous high was 587,000 for the same Nebraska-Wisconsin matchup on BTN last year.
Viewership comfortably surpassed the Cornhuskers’ much-hyped match at Memorial Stadium earlier this year (518K).
Beyond the record audience, the game outdrew its lead-in from the Northwestern-Nebraska college football game on the same network (0.27, 560K). It also came reasonably close to Wisconsin’s college football game against Illinois on FS1 (684K).
The new record is unlikely to last for long. FOX will carry a college volleyball match for the first time this coming weekend, airing Minnesota-Wisconsin immediately following its NFL coverage in much of the country on Sunday. (FOX will air Ohio State-Michigan prior to the NFL in markets receiving a late NFL game). In the same post-NFL window on FOX this past Sunday, PBA bowling averaged 1.19 million.
Keep in mind that college volleyball postseason matches have averaged larger audiences, including a seven figure audience for the 2021 national championship match.
BTN is now averaging 142,000 viewers for college volleyball this season, up 13%.
For more weekly sports ratings, see the latest chart.
