Despite losing Ohio State-Michigan, Thanksgiving weekend was not a total loss for ABC’s college football ratings.
ABC earned a 2.8 rating and 4.56 million viewers for Miami-Pittsburgh last Friday, up 47% in ratings and viewership from Houston-Memphis last year (1.9, 3.1M) and up a third and 49% respectively from Navy-Houston in 2015 (2.1, 3.1M).
Including streaming viewership, Miami’s upset loss had 4.66 million — ABC’s largest audience for a Noon ET game on Black Friday since 2006.
Later in the day, USF-UCF scored a 2.7 (+13%) and 4.64 million (+11%). The comparable window last year pit Big Ten teams Nebraska and Iowa (2.4, 4.2M).
Including streaming, the undefeated Knights’ high-scoring win had 4.70 million viewers — ABC’s second-largest audience in the window since 2005, behind Iowa-Nebraska in 2015 (6.2M).
The good vibes did not continue into Saturday. Notre Dame-Stanford had a 3.0 and 5.3 million on ABC’s Saturday Night Football, down 17% in ratings and 18% in viewership from Florida-Florida State last year (3.6, 6.4M) but up 7% and 10% respectively from Oklahoma-Oklahoma State in 2015 (2.8, 4.8M).
Though up significantly from the rivals’ meeting last season, which aired on NBC in October (1.8, 2.9M), ratings and viewership fell 30% and 28% respectively from their end-of-season matchup two years ago. That game, which had playoff implications, had a 4.3 and 7.3 million on FOX.
Earlier in the day, Georgia-Georgia Tech drew a 1.7 and 2.8 million. As one would expect, that was down a dramatic 82% in ratings and 84% in viewership from Michigan-Ohio State last year (9.4, 16.8M). Wisconsin-Minnesota drew a 1.5 and 2.6 million, down 56% and 54% respectively from last year’s comparable Notre Dame-USC game (3.4, 5.7M).
The 2017 college football ratings chart is available here.
[Numbers from Sports Business Daily 12.1, ESPN PR]
