The SEC and Big Ten generated the largest audiences during week five of the college football season.
Last Saturday’s LSU/Georgia college football game drew a 4.6 final rating and 7.4 million viewers on CBS, up 59% in ratings from Tennessee/Georgia last year (2.9), and up 44% and 54%, respectively, from Auburn/South Carolina in 2011 (3.2, 4.8M).
LSU/Georgia ranks as the #4 college football telecast of the season on any network, trailing only Clemson/Georgia on ABC in Week 1 (4.8, 8.1M), Notre Dame/Michigan on ESPN in Week 2 (5.3, 8.7M), and Alabama/Texas A&M on CBS in Week 3 (8.5, 13.6M).
Speaking of the Big Ten, the Ohio State/Wisconsin “Saturday Night Football” game drew a 4.0 final rating and 6.8 million viewers on ABC — up 48% in ratings and 59% in viewership from Wisconsin/Nebraska last year (2.7, 4.3M), and up 14% and 17%, respectively, from Nebraska/Wisconsin in 2011 (3.5, 5.8M). Ratings for the other ABC games were not immediately available.
In other college football action last Saturday, the Oklahoma/Notre Dame game on NBC drew a 2.6 final rating and 3.9 million viewers — up 18% in ratings and 6% in viewership from the network’s third Notre Dame telecast last year, against Miami (2.2, 3.7M), and up 136% and 145%, respectively, from the third telecast in 2011, against Air Force (1.1, 1.6M).
The top draw of the week on cable was Mississippi/Alabama on ESPN, with a 2.3 U.S. rating and 4.0 million viewers — up 109% in ratings and 142% in viewership from Florida State/South Florida in a similar timeslot last year (1.1, 1.7M).
Concurrent action between Texas A&M and Arkansas drew a 1.7 and 2.8 million on ESPN2, up 42% and 47%, respectively, from South Carolina/Kentucky last year (1.2, 1.9M).
FOX had another weak outing last week, as Arizona/Washington scored a mere 1.1 and 1.8 million viewers — down 56% in ratings and 52% in viewership from Texas/Oklahoma State (2.5, 3.8M), and the network’s lowest rated and least-viewed primetime college football game ever.
(Last week’s numbers from Sports Business Daily, ESPN Media Zone)
