The Big Ten continues to move the ratings needle for ABC.
Michigan-Penn State averaged a 4.0 rating and 6.66 million viewers on ABC’s Saturday Night Football last weekend, marking the highest rated and most-watched college football game of week eight.
ABC’s Saturday night window has topped the charts in three of the past four weeks. Each of the three wins was for a Big Ten conference game.
The Nittany Lions’ win increased 5% in ratings and 6% in viewership from the same window last year, which saw then-#2 Ohio State lose to Purdue (3.8, 6.29M). Compared to the same Michigan-Penn State matchup in 2017, ratings increased a tick (vs. 3.9) but viewership fell 4% (from 6.95M).
The teams’ meeting last year, which aired on ESPN in a mid-afternoon timeslot, had a 2.5 with 4.25 million.
Earlier in the day, ABC averaged a 2.3 (+15%) and 3.62 million (+16%) for Oregon-Washington — marking the highest rated and most-watched Pac-12 conference game this season. Including out-of-conference games, it ranks second behind Oregon-Auburn on ABC in week one (4.0, 6.86M).
ABC also drew a 1.7 (flat) and 2.61 million (+5%) for Clemson-Louisville in its Noon ET window.
Shifting to ESPN, Tennessee-Alabama drew a 2.4 and 4.25 million Saturday night — ranking fourth among games on cable this season. The previous week’s Florida-LSU game holds the top spot (3.6, 6.61M), followed by Miami-Florida in “week zero” (3.4, 6.09M) and Notre Dame-Louisville on Labor Day (3.3, 5.68M).
The network also scored a 2.0 (+54%) and 3.19 million (+44%) for Florida-South Carolina, topping Clemson-Louisville on ABC and the FOX “Big Noon Saturday” game (WVU-Oklahoma: 1.7, 2.54M) as the top game in the Noon ET window.
Rounding out the network’s SEC tripleheader, Kentucky-Georgia scored a 1.6 (-16%) and 2.94 million (-5%).
Elsewhere on the ESPN family of networks, ESPN2 posted a 14% bump for Purdue-Iowa (0.49, 799K), the network’s first Saturday game to post an increase since mid-September. Figures were available for only one ESPNU game, with Colorado-Washington State averaging 271,000.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 10.22, ESPN PR 10.23]
