You’re going to be shocked to learn this, but Saturday’s Michigan-Ohio State game was the most-watched college football game of the regular season. Additionally, it was the most-watched regular season game since Alabama-LSU in 2011.
19.07 million people watched Michigan’s 30-24 win on Fox in the Big Noon window, nearing doubling the previous season-high audience (Ohio State-Notre Dame, 10.5 million in Week 4). It’s the most-watched regular season game since the aforementioned Alabama-LSU game in 2011, which averaged 20.01 million viewers on CBS. Additionally, it’s the second-most-watched Michigan-Ohio State game ever, behind the 2006 game (21.04 million viewers on ABC).
CBS drew its best audience of the season in the 3:30 p.m. ET window for the network’s final Iron Bowl. Alabama’s last-second win over Auburn averaged 9.09 million viewers, up 45% from last year’s game.
ABC won the primetime window, with 5.33 million viewers tuning in for Georgia’s win over Georgia Tech.
Past the most-watched games, there were some highlights across the Saturday slate. The noon window was mostly a bust outside of Michigan-Ohio State, with Texas A&M-LSU averaging 2.00 million viewers on ESPN and Kentucky’s upset of Louisville averaging 1.57 million on ABC.
In the late afternoon window, the strong lead-in on Fox propelled the Apple Cup to 5.85 million viewers, the weekend’s third-most-watched game. ABC averaged 2.39 million for BYU-Oklahoma State. FS1 also picked up a head-to-head win over ESPN, averaging 1.23 million viewers for Wisconsin-Minnesota compared to 740,000 for Arizona-Arizona State.
ESPN rounded out the top five most-watched games of the week in primetime with 5.07 million watching Florida State-Florida. Fox drew 3.29 million for Iowa State-Kansas State.
We also had a full slate of games on Black Friday, which drew some impressive viewership. The CBS broadcast of Iowa’s rock fight win over Nebraska averaged 4.39 million viewers in the noon window, tops for the day. Oregon’s win over Oregon State in primetime on Fox averaged 4.12 million viewers. CBS capped their doubleheader by averaging 4.09 million viewers in the late afternoon for Missouri-Arkansas. ABC averaged 3.77 million viewers in primetime for Texas Tech-Texas, while NBC drew 3.38 million viewers in the same window for Penn State-Michigan State. Fox averaged 2.22 million viewers at noon for TCU-Oklahoma, while ABC lagged at noon for Miami-Boston College (1.43 million) and UTSA-Tulane (1.72 million).
[Data via Sports Media Watch]
