For the second straight week, a rivalry game involving Ohio State delivered big numbers for ABC
The Ohio State/Michigan college football game had a 6.8 overnight rating on ABC Saturday afternoon, up 24% from the teams’ meeting last year (5.5), up 6% from their matchup in 2013 (6.4) and the highest overnight for a game between the rivals since 2006 — when they were the #1 and #2 teams in the country (13.7). The previous high over that span was a 6.4 in 2007.
Overall, the 6.8 overnight is the highest for any afternoon window on ABC since the 2006 game, and the highest for a Noon ET game on the network since at least 2004.
The Buckeyes’ blowout win scored the second-highest college football overnight of the season on any network, trailing only their loss to Michigan State on ABC the previous week (7.0). Including their Labor Day win over Virginia Tech on ESPN (6.6), Ohio State has now played in the season’s three highest rated games in the metered markets.*
The Big Ten now accounts for five of the eight highest college football overnights this season, with Michigan State/Michigan in October ranking seventh (5.1) and Oregon/Michigan State in September eighth (5.0).
ESPN/ABC accounts for seven of the top ten, the lone exceptions being LSU/Alabama in week ten (6.3) and Alabama/Auburn (5.3) and Notre Dame/Stanford (4.7) on Saturday. In ten of 13 weeks this season, one of the two networks has aired the highest rated game in the metered markets — compared to six such occurrences in 15 weeks last year.
* It should be noted that in the final nationals, the week ten LSU/Alabama game ranks as the highest rated telecast of the season.
(Sat. numbers from ESPN)
