More ratings from college football’s conference championship weekend, including the Pac-12 and American Athletic title games and the CFP Selection Show.
Pac-12 Title Game Up, But Hits Broadcast Low
Last Friday’s Washington-Utah Pac-12 Championship Game had a 2.6 rating and 4.06 million viewers on FOX, up 13% in ratings and 11% in viewership from last year on ESPN (USC-Stanford: 2.3, 3.66M) but down 24% and 28% respectively from 2016 on FOX (Washington-Colorado: 3.4, 5.67M).
The Huskies’ win was the lowest rated and least-watched Pac-12 Championship on broadcast television (five telecasts). It was also the least-watched of this year’s “Power 5” conference championships.
AAC Title Game Holds Up Well Despite Competition
The UCF-Memphis American Athletic Conference title game delivered a 2.1 rating and 3.32 million viewers on ABC last Saturday, down 9% in ratings and 2% in viewership from the same matchup last year (2.3, 3.39M). Keep in mind that last year’s game aired in an earlier timeslot and avoided direct competition with the SEC Championship Game. This year’s game was crushed by the SEC competition (10.1, 17.5M).
MWC Hits High, MAC Hits Low
ESPN drew a 0.6 rating and 1.04 million viewers for last Saturday’s Fresno State-Boise State Mountain West Conference title game, up 51% in ratings and 66% in viewership from the same matchup last year (0.39, 623K) and up 34% and 45% respectively from 2016 (SDSU-Wyoming: 0.44, 713K). It was the most-watched edition of the game since 2014, the last time it aired on CBS (1.5M).
Earlier in the day, ESPN drew a 0.6 and 898,000 for the inaugural Louisiana-Appalachian State Sun Belt title game.
Last Friday night, the Northern Illinois-Buffalo MAC Championship delivered a 0.38 (-16%) and 587,000 (-10%) on ESPN2, marking the smallest audience for that game since at least 2011.
CFP Selection Show Declines
The complete, four-hour College Football Playoff Selection Show had 1.4 million viewers on ESPN Sunday — down 14% from last year (1.63M) but up 5% from 2016 (1.33M). By comparison, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament Selection Show had 2.5 million viewers on TBS last March. That show aired for two hours.
