The much-anticipated top-ten clash between Notre Dame and Georgia hit season-highs in ratings and viewership.
Notre Dame-Georgia averaged a 5.4 rating and 9.29 million viewers on a primetime edition of the SEC on CBS last Saturday, marking the highest rated and most-watched college football game of the season.
The previous highs were a 5.0 and 8.63 million for the season’s previous top ten matchup, LSU-Texas on ABC two weeks earlier. LSU-Texas still holds the top spot in adults 18-49 (2.7 to 2.5).
In addition to the multi-year high, it was the highest rated and most-watched regular season Notre Dame game since their 2016 opener against Texas on ABC (6.4, 10.95M). Compared to the team’s previous top ten matchups, ratings and viewership more-than-doubled their rout of Stanford on NBC last season (2.1, 3.44M), and increased 38% over their loss to Miami on ABC in 2017 (3.9, 6.73M).
Even with the strong numbers, the Bulldogs’ win ranks just seventh out of the last nine primetime SEC games on CBS (dating back to 2011). Each of the other eight pit Alabama against LSU. Versus last year’s primetime game, which took place in week ten, ratings fell 18% (from 6.6) and viewership 20% (from 11.54M).
The last time Notre Dame played Georgia, their 2017 primetime matchup on NBC averaged a 2.4 and 4.09 million.
Earlier in the day, Auburn-Texas A&M averaged a 3.0 and 4.66 million in the usual SEC on CBS timeslot — down 12% in ratings and 18% in viewership from Alabama-Texas A&M last year (3.4, 5.65M), but up 58% and 56% respectively from 2017 (Alabama-Vanderbilt: 1.9, 2.99M).
The full list of week four college football ratings is available here.
Ratings/viewership for primetime SEC on CBS, past decade
[Nielsen estimates via ShowBuzz Daily 9.24]
