Even with USC’s recent struggles, their annual rivalry game against Notre Dame pulled in decent numbers Saturday night.
Saturday’s USC/Notre Dame college football game drew a 2.5 final rating and 4.0 million viewers on NBC, up 25% in ratings and 24% in viewership from North Carolina/Notre Dame last year (2.0, 3.2M) and up 14% in both measures from the same USC/Notre Dame matchup in 2013 (2.2, 3.5M).
Compared to last year’s Notre Dame/USC game, which aired on FOX in week fourteen of the season, ratings and viewership increased by 92% and 98%, respectively, from a 1.3 and 2.0 million. Notre Dame’s win ranks as the rivals’ highest rated and most-watched meeting since 2012 on ABC, when a national championship berth was on the line (9.4, 16.1M), and their top meeting on NBC since 2009 (4.1, 6.5M).
Saturday’s game also scored the highest rating and viewership for Notre Dame on NBC this season, and the network’s third-best numbers for a primetime Notre Dame telecast (12 telecasts dating back to 2008) — trailing only games against Michigan in 2012 (4.0, 6.4M) and 2014 (2.7, 4.6M).
Head-to-head, USC/Notre Dame trailed both Penn State/Ohio State on ABC (3.3, 5.9M) and Florida/LSU on ESPN (3.9, 6.8M), as well as Game 1 of the Cubs/Mets NLCS on TBS (4.5, 7.9M).
(Sat. numbers via TV Media Insights)
