Alabama/Arkansas may not have been the biggest draw of the college football season, but it still turned in strong numbers for CBS.
CBS drew a 5.2 final rating and 8.138 million viewers for Alabama’s win over Arkansas last Saturday, up 117% in ratings and 123% in viewership from the same matchup last year (2.4, 3.655 mil) and up 93% and 101%, respectively, from Florida/Tennessee two years ago (2.7, 4.044 mil).
The 5.2 rating is the highest for a regular season college football game on CBS since Florida/LSU in primetime last year (6.1) and the top afternoon game on the network since FSU/Florida in 2003 (5.7).
Alabama/Arkansas ranks as the top college football game of the season on broadcast and the season’s #2 game overall. Boise State/Virginia Tech drew a 6.3 and 9.888 million viewers on ESPN earlier this season.
CBS says it is averaging a 4.2 rating for college football coverage through two games this season — up 27% from last year (3.3) and the network’s highest average through this point of the season since ’99 (5.0).
Sports Business Daily has CBS averaging a 4.3 rating, up 30%. The same publication has the network averaging 6.654 million viewers, up 32%.
(CBS press release from Fang’s Bites; Sports Business Daily 1, 2)
