After the overnights said otherwise, final ratings gave ABC’s “Saturday Night Football” another head-to-head victory over college football on FOX.
The Wisconsin/Nebraska “Saturday Night Football” game drew a 2.7 final rating and 4.258 million viewers on ABC, down 23% in ratings and 26% in viewership from the same matchup last year (3.5, 5.753M), and down 10% and 13%, respectively, from regional action featuring Stanford/Oregon in 2010 (3.0, 4.866M).
Though down from last year, ESPN said Saturday’s game earned the top college football audience of the night. That is a reversal from the overnights, when ABC was beaten head-to-head by Texas/Oklahoma State on FOX.
ABC had better results earlier in the day, though the numbers were still down. The afternoon Ohio State/Michigan State game drew a 3.3 and 4.975 million viewers, down 8% in ratings and 9% in viewership from regional action featuring the same matchup last year (3.6, 5.472M), and down 25% and 29%, respectively, from coverage featuring Texas/Oklahoma in 2010 (4.4, 6.996M).
Ohio State/Michigan State was the top college football telecast of the weekend.
(Saturday’s numbers from ESPN Media Zone)
