The defending national champs gave ESPN a solid boost last Saturday night.
ESPN earned a 1.8 rating and 3.4 million viewers for Auburn-Clemson Saturday night, up 20% in ratings and 36% in viewership from Arkansas-TCU last year (1.5, 2.5M) but down 25% and 19% respectively from Oklahoma-Tennessee in an earlier window in 2015 (2.4, 4.1M).
The Tigers’ win was the day’s top college football game on cable, a return to form for ESPN after Fox Sports 1 topped the charts the previous Saturday. Including streaming viewership on WatchESPN, the game had 3.5 million.
Airing immediately afterward, Boise State-Washington wasted its strong lead-in with a 26% decline in ratings (from 1.01 to 0.75) and a 20% drop in viewership (from 1.6M to 1.3M). Last year’s comparable game pitted Virginia against Oregon.
Earlier in the day, Louisville-North Carolina had a 1.5 and 2.3 million — down a tick in ratings and down 5% in viewership from Penn State-Pittsburgh last year (1.6, 2.4M) and flat but up 2% respectively from USF-Florida State in 2015 (1.5, 2.2M).
Over on ESPN2, Fresno State-Alabama was the weekend’s top draw with a 1.2 and 2.1 million — down 14% in ratings and 16% in viewership from Western Kentucky-Alabama last year (1.4, 2.5M), but up 198% and 229% from Fresno State against Mississippi in 2015 (0.41, 630K). ESPNU topped out at 358,000 for Indiana-Virginia.
[Wknd. numbers from ESPN, ShowBuzz Daily 9.13]
