With Miami no match for Clemson, ACC Championship ratings were no match for the competition Saturday night.
Last Saturday’s Clemson-Miami ACC Championship Game scored a 3.2 rating and 5.4 million viewers on ABC, down a tick in ratings but up 2% in viewership from Clemson-Virginia Tech last year (3.3, 5.3M) and down 22% and 31% respectively from Clemson-North Carolina in 2015 (4.1, 7.9M).
The 3.2 rating is the lowest for the ACC title game since Florida State-Georgia Tech in 2012 (1.2). That was the last time the game aired on cable in 2012. Ratings for the game have now declined in three straight years.
The Tigers’ easy win was more-than-doubled by the competing Big Ten Championship on FOX. The Ohio State-Wisconsin matchup had a 7.3 rating and 12.9 million viewers. The Big Ten Championship has now beaten its ACC counterpart in six of seven head-to-head matchups.
It was the lowest rated and least-watched of Saturday’s four Power 5 championship games — trailing the Big Ten, SEC (8.0, 13.5M), and the Big 12 (3.8, 5.9M).
Saturday’s game completed a softer season for ABC’s Saturday Night Football. The series averaged 5.8 million viewers (including streaming), down 4% from last year (6.1M). Despite the decline, it was still the most-watched college football series all season, ahead of the SEC on CBS (5.0M).
[Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 12.6]
