With the Wolverines unranked and Jim Harbaugh in the NFL, the annual Michigan-Ohio State game was the least-watched in seven years.
Michigan’s upset of #2 Ohio State averaged 12.3 million viewers on FOX, down 35% from last year (19.06M), down 28% from two years ago (17.14M) and the least-watched game between the rivals since 2017 (10.51M). Not coincidentally, 2017 was also the last time before this year that one of the teams entered the game unranked. For the prior two meetings, both teams were in the top three.
For the first time since 2020, when the game was not played, Michigan-Ohio State will not rank as the most-watched game of the regular season. That spot still belongs to Georgia-Texas on ABC October 19, which drew 13.19 million. (Excluding 2020, the last time Michigan-Ohio State did not top the charts was just one year earlier in 2019.)
Nonetheless, “The Game” still ranks second for the season and first among Big Ten contests.
Michigan-Ohio State helped FOX win its “Big Noon Saturday” window for the seventh time in 14 weeks this season. SEC-boosted ABC took top honors in the seven other weeks. (Keep in mind that FOX generally schedules its best games for Noon ET, while ABC usually slots its worst games in that window.) FOX won the “Big Noon” slot nine times in 13 weeks last season.
FOX did score the top four audiences in that Noon ET window, with Michigan-Ohio State joining Ohio State-Penn State (9.77M), Indiana-Ohio State (9.32M) and Texas-Michigan (9.19M). ABC’s top Noon game was Clemson-Georgia on the opening weekend of the season (7.58M).
