The college football season got off to a hot start on ESPN.
Thursday’s Ohio State-Indiana college football game earned a 3.6 overnight rating across ESPN and ESPNU, up 200% from South Carolina-Vanderbilt last year and the highest overnight on record for the opening Thursday of the season (dates back to 2001). The previous record was a 2.5 in 2013.
ESPN alone pulled a 3.5 for last night’s game, still the highest on record for the opening Thursday.
Columbus, Ohio led all markets with a 38.3 rating, its second-best regular season mark ever on ESPN. Fellow Ohio markets Dayton (23.8) and Cleveland (16.3) ranked second and third. Indianapolis was fourth at an 11.6, its best rating yet for an Indiana game on ESPN. Cincinnati rounded out the top five at 10.5.
Birmingham, Al., was the top market outside of the participating states with a 9.0.
[Numbers from ESPN]
