Thanks in large part to a record-setting performance last year, ESPN had massive declines for college football this weekend.
The Virginia Tech/Ohio State college football game drew a 2.9 overnight rating on ESPN Saturday night, down 48% from Notre Dame/Michigan last year (5.6) but up 45% from Washington/LSU in an earlier timeslot two years ago (2.0). The game was topped head-to-head by both Michigan/Notre Dame on NBC (3.0) and Michigan State/Oregon on FOX (4.0).
The 48% decline was actually the smallest of the day for ESPN. The network’s Noon ET Missouri/Toledo game drew a 0.9 overnight, down 76% from Florida/Miami last year (3.7) and down 44% from Auburn/Mississippi State in 2012 (1.6).
Mississippi/Vanderbilt had the worst performance of all, mustering only a 0.65 overnight — down 87% from last year’s Georgia/South Carolina game (4.8) and down 78% from Florida/Texas A&M in 2012 (2.9).
Of course, the major caveat is that this year’s week two schedule was far weaker than in the past. Last year’s tripleheader was one of the strongest ever on ESPN, with three marquee match-ups.
(Sat. overnights from ShowBuzz Daily)
