SEC continues viewership dominance over Big Ten as season draws to a close

The SEC has solidified itself as America’s preferred conference for the second consecutive college football season.

Nielsen’s most recent data, which includes the first 12 weeks of the college football season, show that seven of the country’s 10 most-watched teams hail from the SEC. One such slot is afforded to the Big Ten (Ohio State at No. 7), while Florida State (9) and Notre Dame (10) round out the top viewership teams so far this season. Out of the 20 most-watched teams through 12 weeks this season, the SEC counts 13, the Big Ten three, the ACC three, and Notre Dame.

The SEC’s dominance has translated to success for ESPN and ABC, which holds the exclusive rights for the conference. ABC has aired nine of the 10 most-watched games so far this season, with Fox’s Week 1 game between Texas and Ohio State the lone exception.

Incredibly, out of 39 Saturday national college football windows through 13 weeks this season (noon, mid-afternoon, and primetime), ABC has won 32. Fox has won six, all of which have come in its marquee Big Noon window, when ABC typically airs its weakest game. CBS has won one, Oregon-Iowa in Week 11 during the mid-afternoon window. Of the 32 windows ABC has won, all but four have featured an SEC team. The four exceptions were high-profile ACC contests, one of which was Notre Dame’s trip to Pittsburgh last week, which was accompanied by College GameDay.

Overall, college football viewership is up 2% year-over-year using Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel methodology for both datasets. However, Nielsen had yet to expand its out-of-home viewing measurements this time last season, which still makes comparisons apples-to-oranges.

Fox and the Big Ten should be able to claw back a little bit of ground during Rivalry Week, as The Game between Ohio State and Michigan is regularly one of the most-watched each year. But even if that game draws a massive viewership number, it’s the SEC’s year. And ABC/ESPN remains the primary benefactor.