A close battle between top ten teams earned strong numbers for CBS.
Alabama’s 24-20 win over Arkansas drew a 5.4 overnight rating on CBS Saturday afternoon, up 146% from the same matchup last year (2.2) and up 80% from Florida/Tennessee on the comparable weekend in 2008 (3.0).
The 5.4 overnight is the highest for any regular season college football telecast on CBS since Florida/LSU in primetime last year (6.8).
Excluding primetime telecasts, this is the highest overnight for a regular season telecast on the network Alabama/LSU in November 2008 (5.5).
Despite the increase, Saturday’s game did not draw the top overnight rating of the season thus far. That distinction goes to Boise State/Virginia Tech on Labor Day, which drew a 6.8 overnight on ESPN.
Overnights for the rest of Saturday’s college football games (including Oregon State/Boise State on ABC) were not immediately available.
(CBS press release from Fang’s Bites)
