A Black Friday doubleheader featuring two of the top five teams in the country earned impressive numbers on ESPN.
ESPN drew a 4.5 U.S. rating and 7.787 million viewers for then-BCS #1 Oregon’s win over Arizona Friday night, up 80% in ratings and 88% in viewership from last year’s comparable game on ESPN2 (PIT/WVU: 2.5, 4.137 mil).
This marks the second-most viewed college football game of the season on ESPN, behind only Boise State/Virginia Tech on Labor Day (9.888 mil).
Additionally, the game ranks as the most-viewed Thursday or Friday night college football game ever on ESPN.
The previous Thursday night record was 6.692 million for Texas/Texas A&M on Thanksgiving last year, and the previous Friday night record was 5.635 million for West Virginia/Boston College on Black Friday in 1993.
Later Friday night, then-BCS #4 Boise State’s loss to Nevada drew a 3.4 U.S. rating and 5.449 million viewers, up 89% and 82%, respectively, from last year’s game between the same teams on ESPN2 (NEV/BSU: 1.8, 2.997 mil).
The game ranks as the third-most viewed Friday college football game ever on ESPN, behind Arizona/Oregon and West Virgnia/Boston College.
(pifeedback.com; 1993 WVU/BC numbers from Fang’s Bites)
