A Red River Rivalry rematch delivered the largest Big 12 audience in nine years.
Last Saturday’s Oklahoma-Texas Big 12 Championship Game earned a 6.2 rating and 10.16 million viewers on ABC, up 63% in ratings and 72% in viewership from last year on FOX (Oklahoma-TCU: 3.8, 5.90M). There was no Big 12 title game from 2011-16.
The Sooners’ win delivered the highest rating and viewership for a Big 12 conference game in nine years — since the 2009 Big 12 Championship (Texas-Nebraska: 7.5, 12.7M). Excluding bowls, it was the top game involving a Big 12 team since Texas faced Notre Dame on the opening weekend of the 2016 season (6.4, 11.0M).
In addition, it was the highest rated meeting between Oklahoma and Texas since 2002 (6.4) and almost certainly the most-watched this century. Complete viewership figures were not available.
For the season, Oklahoma-Texas ranks as the highest rated and most-watched game on ESPN/ABC. The previous highs were a 5.3 and 9.14 million for Ohio State-Penn State in September.
Across all networks, it ranks fourth. The Alabama-Georgia SEC Championship holds the top spot (10.1 and 17.5 million on CBS), followed by Michigan-Ohio State on FOX (7.5, 13.2M) and Alabama-LSU on CBS (6.6, 11.5M).
Including streaming, the game had 10.3 million viewers.
The full list of championship weekend college football ratings is available here.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 12.5, with additional info from ESPN PR]
