A battle of Top 5 teams, boosted by drama surrounding one of the most hyped players in college football, gave CBS big ratings on Saturday night.
Florida’s win over LSU drew a 6.8/12 overnight rating on CBS Saturday night, up 62% from last year’s primetime matchup between the same two teams (4.2/8), and up 19% from another primetime matchup between them in ’07 (5.7/11).
The 6.8 overnight rating is the highest of the season for a college football game on broadcast, topping a 5.6 for Notre Dame/Michigan on ABC earlier in the season.
Earlier in the day, ratings jumped by double digits for another Top 25 battle. Alabama’s win over Mississippi drew a 3.0/7 overnight, up 11% from a 2.7/6 for Tennessee/Georgia last year.
So far this season, four of the five college football telecasts on CBS have had a double-digit increase in overnight ratings — including the 62% rise for Florida/LSU, a 42% jump for LSU/Georgia last week, and a 60% increase for Florida/Tennessee in September.
Source: Fang’s Bites
