Thanks to a low-profile matchup, the college football season got off to its slowest start on ESPN in at least a decade.
Thursday’s Northwestern-Purdue college football game had 1.74 million viewers on ESPN, down 66% from last year (Ohio State-Indiana: 5.13M) and down 10% from 2016 (South Carolina-Vanderbilt: 1.942M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Not counting “Week 0” games, the Wildcats’ win was the least-watched college football opener on ESPN in at least a decade. The previous low was 1.937 million for UNLV-Wisconsin in 2011.
In other action, UCF-UConn had 444,000 on ESPNU — up 110% from Indiana-FIU two years ago (211K). ESPNU did not air a game on opening night of last season.
FS1 drew 337,000 for Missouri State-Oklahoma State, down 12% from last year (Tulsa-Oklahoma State: 382K).
Shifting to last weekend’s “Week 0” games, ESPN2 drew a 0.29 rating and 464,000 viewers for Wyoming-New Mexico last Saturday — down 29% in both measures from Stanford-Rice on ESPN last year (0.41, 653K). ESPN drew a 0.35 (-20%) and 564,000 (-22%) for N.C. A&T-Jackonsville State earlier in the night.
