ABC’s college football ratings fell across-the-board last weekend, led by a steep drop for a lopsided rivalry game.
Penn State-Pittsburgh scored a 2.0 rating and 3.29 million viewers on ABC’s Saturday Night Football last weekend, down 57% in ratings and 59% in viewership from Oklahoma-Ohio State last year (4.6, 8.08M) and down 39% and 43% respectively from 2016 (VT-Tennessee: 3.3, 5.79M).
The Nittany Lions’ 45-point rout was no match for last year’s matchup between the rivals, which aired in the afternoon and had a 2.4 and 3.70 million, also on ABC.
Head-to-head, it trailed the competing Clemson-Texas A&M game on ESPN, which drew a 2.6 and 4.5 million.
ABC did slightly better earlier in the day. The network’s Colorado-Nebraska matchup had a 2.1 (-13%) and 3.39 million (-8%) in the afternoon.
The network started the day off with a 1.7 and 2.54 million for regional coverage — Arizona-Houston or Georgia Tech-USF — down 29% in ratings and 30% in viewership from last year (Cincinnati-Michigan: 2.4, 3.61M) and down 11% in both measures from 2016 (UCF-Michigan: 1.9, 2.86M). “Reverse mirror” coverage on ESPN2 had a 0.25 and 379,000.
So far this season, five of ABC’s seven college football windows have declined.
The complete list of week two college football ratings is available here.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 9.12]
