A fairly uninspiring slate of regional games put up mediocre numbers on ABC Saturday night.
The latest edition of ABC’s Saturday Night Football, featuring Oklahoma State/Texas in 61% of TV markets, earned a 3.4 overnight rating, down 19% from last year (ND/PIT*: 4.2), and down 42% from 2008 (OKST/TTU*: 5.9).
The 3.4 overnight is tied as the third-lowest of the season for Saturday Night Football, and the ninth-lowest since the program began in 2006 (59 telecasts).
Four times this season, ABC has drawn one of its ten lowest Saturday Night Football overnights ever.
Earlier in the day, regional action featuring Penn State/Ohio State in 69% of TV markets earned a 4.2 overnight, up a tick from last year (IOWA/OSU*: 4.1), and even with 2008 (PSU/IOWA*: 4.2).
The 4.2 is the second-highest of the season for an afternoon college football telecast on ABC, behind only coverage featuring Texas/Oklahoma in October (4.8).
Penn State/Ohio State was arguably the ESPN/ABC game of the week. College Gameday aired from Columbus, OH, and the ESPN/ABC ‘A-team’ of Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit called the matchup.
Even with that added hype, the telecast was topped head-to-head by Georgia/Auburn on CBS (5.4).
Asterisk (*) indicates regionalized telecast.
(Ratings from Sports Business Daily)
