The SEC on CBS returned with the highest college football overnight ratings of the weekend.
Alabama-South Carolina averaged a 3.1 overnight rating in the season premiere of the SEC on CBS, the highest college football overnight of the weekend. Overnights fell 16% from LSU-Auburn last year (3.7) but drew even with Tennessee-Florida in 2017 (3.1).
The 3.1 is the highest for the season premiere of the SEC on CBS since 2014 (Georgia-South Carolina: 4.2), but that comes with a major caveat. From 2015-18, CBS opened its season in either Week 1 or Week 2, when it does not have top pick of SEC games.
Earlier in the day, FOX scored a 2.5 overnight for Ohio State-Indiana on “Big Noon Saturday” — edging Pittsburgh-Penn State on ABC (2.4) as the highest of any network in the Noon ET window. FOX has won the Noon window in all three weeks this season. There was no comparable window on FOX last season.
The strong lead-in helped FOX to a 163% increase for its mid-afternoon game, Michigan State-Arizona State (2.1).
Shifting to ABC, Clemson-Syracuse had a 2.6 overnight on Saturday Night Football — down 47% from last year (Ohio State-TCU: 4.9) and down 21% from 2017 (Clemson-Louisville: 3.3). The network also posted a decline for its previously-mentioned Penn State-Pittsburgh game (-8%), but scored an uptick for USC-BYU (2.2).
Over on ESPN, Florida-Kentucky delivered a 2.0 — down 9% from Alabama-Mississippi last year (2.2), but up 43% from 2017 (LSU-Mississippi State: 1.4).
NBC brought up the rear Saturday with a mere 1.1 for New Mexico-Notre Dame, the lowest for a Notre Dame home opener since at least 1997. The previous low was a 1.2 for their 2017 home opener against Temple.
[Nielsen estimates from Sports Business Daily 9.16, ESPN PR 9.16]
