Tracking most watched games of the season and any ratings news.

Updated Dec. 5, 2023 (Copied from my Excel File):

SportsMediaWatch link: https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college...v-ratings/

Day of Week Date Time Network Visitor Conference Home Conference Viewers
1 Saturday 11/25/2023 noon FOX Ohio State Big Ten Michigan Big Ten 19.07
2 Saturday 12/2/2023 4pm CBS Alabama SEC Georgia SEC 17.52
3 Saturday 9/23/2023 3:30pm ABC Colorado Pac 12 Oregon Pac 12 10.03
4 Saturday 12/2/2023 8pm FOX Iowa Big Ten Michigan Big Ten 10.02
5 Saturday 9/23/2023 7:30pm NBC Ohio State Big Ten Notre Dame Independent 9.98
6 Saturday 10/21/2023 noon FOX Penn State Big Ten Ohio State Big Ten 9.96
7 Saturday 9/16/2023 10pm ESPN Colorado State MWC Colorado Pac 12 9.3
8 Friday 12/1/2023 8pm ABC Oregon Pac 12 Washington Pac 12 9.25
9 Sunday 9/3/2023 7:30pm ABC LSU SEC Florida State ACC 9.17
10 Saturday 11/11/2023 noon FOX Michigan Big Ten Penn State Big Ten 9.16
11 Saturday 11/25/2023 3:30pm CBS Alabama SEC Auburn SEC 9.09
12 Saturday 11/4/2023 7:45pm CBS LSU SEC Alabama SEC 8.82
13 Saturday 9/9/2023 7pm ESPN Texas B12 Alabama SEC 8.76
14 Saturday 9/9/2023 noon FOX Nebraska Big Ten Colorado Pac 12 8.73
15 Saturday 10/21/2023 3:30pm CBS Tennessee SEC Alabama SEC 8.01
16 Saturday 12/2/2023 noon ABC Oklahoma State B12 Texas B12 7.89
17 Saturday 10/7/2023 noon ABC Oklahoma B12 Texas B12 7.87
18 Saturday 9/2/2023 noon FOX Colorado Pac 12 TCU B12 7.26
19 Saturday 9/30/2023 noon FOX USC Pac 12 Colorado Pac 12 7.24
20 Saturday 10/7/2023 3:30pm CBS Alabama SEC Texas A&M SEC 7.23
21 Saturday 10/14/2023 3:30pm ABC Oregon Pac 12 Washington Pac 12 7.04
22 Saturday 12/2/2023 8pm ABC Louisville ACC Florida State ACC 7.03
23 Saturday 11/4/2023 3:30pm CBS Missouri SEC Georgia SEC 7
24 Saturday 9/23/2023 noon ABC Florida State ACC Clemson ACC 6.71
25 Saturday 10/14/2023 7:30pm NBC USC Pac 12 Notre Dame Independent 6.43
26 Saturday 9/30/2023 3:30pm CBS Georgia SEC Auburn SEC 6.4
27 Saturday 10/28/2023 3:30pm CBS Georgia SEC Florida SEC 5.95
28 Saturday 11/25/2023 4pm FOX Washington State Pac 12 Washington Pac 12 5.85
29 Saturday 11/18/2023 3:30pm CBS Georgia SEC Tennessee SEC 5.73
30 Saturday 11/18/2023 noon FOX Michigan Big Ten Maryland Big Ten 5.43
31 Saturday 9/16/2023 3:30pm CBS South Carolina SEC Georgia SEC 5.42
32 Saturday 11/25/2023 7:30pm ABC Georgia SEC Georgia Tech ACC 5.33
33 Saturday 9/30/2023 7:30pm ABC Notre Dame Independent Duke ACC 5.31
34 Saturday 9/16/2023 7pm ESPN Tennessee SEC Florida SEC 5.31
35 Saturday 11/11/2023 3:30pm FOX Utah Pac 12 Washington Pac 12 5.17
36 Saturday 10/7/2023 7:30pm ABC Notre Dame Independent Louisville ACC 5.12
37 Saturday 11/25/2023 7pm ESPN Florida State ACC Florida SEC 5.07

Total: 37
By Network: ABC: 11, CBS: 10, FOX: 10, ESPN: 4, NBC, 2
By Time Slot: Sat noon: 10, Sat mid aft: 13, Sat prime: 10, Sat late night: 1, Non Sat: 2
By Conference: SEC: 26, Pac 12: 16, Big 10: 12, ACC: 9, Big 12: 6, ND: 4, MWC: 1
By 2024 Conference: SEC: 30, Big 10: 21, ACC: 9, Big 12: 8, ND: 4, MWC: 1, Pac 12: 1
By Team: Ga: 7, Ala: 6, Colo: 5, Mich, Wash, FSU, ND: 4, Tex, Ore, OSU, Fla, Tenn: 3, PSU, LSU, USC, Lville, Aub; 2 each, A&M, Clem, Duke, TCU, Md, Okl, Neb, Mo, SC, CSU, Utah, WSU, Ok St, GaT, Iowa: 1 each

Saturday Time Slot Winners:
9/2: Colorado-TCU (FOX), Ohio State-Indiana (CBS), West Virginia-Penn State (NBC)
9/9: Nebraska-Colorado (FOX), Texas A&M-Miami (ABC), Texas-Alabama (ESPN)
9/16: Florida State-Boston College (ABC), South Carolina-Georgia (CBS), Tennessee-Florida (ESPN)
9/23: Florida State-Clemson (ABC), Colorado-Oregon (ABC), Ohio State-Notre Dame (NBC)
9/30: USC-Colorado (FOX), Georgia-Auburn (CBS), Notre Dame-Duke (ABC)
10/7: Oklahoma-Texas (ABC), Alabama-Texas A&M (CBS), Notre Dame-Louisville (ABC)
10/14: Indiana-Michigan (FOX), Oregon-Washington (ABC), USC-Notre Dame (NBC)
10/21: Penn State-Ohio State (FOX), Tennessee-Alabama (CBS), Duke-Florida State (ABC)
10/28: Oklahoma-Kansas (FOX), Georgia-Florida (CBS), Ohio State-Wisconsin (NBC)
11/4: Ohio State-Rutgers (CBS), Missouri-Georgia (CBS), LSU-Alabama (CBS)
11/11: Michigan-Penn State (FOX), Utah-Washington (FOX), Mississippi-Georgia (ESPN)
11/18:Michigan-Maryland (FOX), Georgia-Tennessee (CBS), Washington-Oregon State (ABC)
11/25: Ohio State-Michigan (FOX), Alabama-Auburn (CBS), Georgia-Georgia Tech (ABC)

By Network: ABC (11), CBS (11), FOX (10), NBC (4), ESPN (2)
noon: FOX (9), ABC (3). CBS (1)
3:30pm: CBS (9), ABC (3), FOX (1)
Prime Time: ABC (5), NBC (4), ESPN (3), CBS (1)

By Conference (2023 Version):
SEC: 25 (Ga 7, Ala 5, Tenn 3, Fla 2, A&M 2, Aub 2, SC, LSU, Mo, Miss)
Big 10: 19 (OSU 6, Mich 4, PSU 3, Ind 2, Nebr, Wisc, Rut, Md)
Pac 12: 13 (Colo 4, Wash 3, Ore 2, USC 2, Utah, Ore St) - Late night slot isn't included
ACC: 10 (FSU 3, Duke 2, Mia, BC, Clem, Lville, GaT)
Big 12: 7 (Tex 2, Okl 2, TCU, WV, Kan)
ND: 4

SMW 9/2/23 Article: https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/09...n-cbs-nbc/

Big Ten Cheerleader Portion:
"Elsewhere Saturday, Ohio State-Indiana averaged a 2.3 and 4.65 million in the debut of the Big Ten on CBS — more-than-tripling the network’s week one game last year (Arizona-San Diego State: 0.6, 921K) and the network’s most-watched week one game in 25 years.

Keep in mind the obvious caveat that CBS has rarely carried games in the opening week of play. Due to past US Open commitments, CBS has always begun its SEC schedule in week three of the season. Since losing the US Open in 2014, it has carried occasional games in weeks one and two, mostly Mountain West or service academy games.

Ratings and viewership comfortably outpaced last year’s matchup of Indiana and Ohio State, a November matchup on FOX that averaged 3.34 million in the network’s “Big Noon” window"

"As for the other Big Ten newcomer, NBC averaged a 1.8 and 3.50 million for West Virginia-Penn State Saturday night — edging ABC’s competing Saturday Night Football matchup of North Carolina and South Carolina at a 1.7 and 3.40 million."

Anti Notre Dame portion:
"NBC also drew a 0.9 and 1.56 million for Tennessee State-Notre Dame, down from the team’s home opener against Marshall last season (1.4, 2.48M)."

Maybe ABC should have signed with the Big Ten..,
"While ABC topped week one with a 4.7 and 9.17 million for Florida State-LSU Sunday night — up double-digits from last year — the network’s Saturday slate suffered steep declines. Both Boise State-Washington (1.1, 1.97M) and North Carolina-South Carolina declined more-than-two-thirds from last year’s higher-profile windows (Oregon-Georgia: 3.2, 6.20M; Notre Dame-Ohio State: 5.2, 10.53M).

Virginia-Tennessee was also down sharply, its 1.4 and 2.46 million down 35 and 37 percent respectively from Colorado State-Michigan last year (2.2, 3.93M)."

Maybe the Big Ten should've added Colorado instead of Washington. Colorado's a lot closer to Illinois and Penn State than Washington is. Colorado = 7.26M, Washington = 1.97M.

Often times Sports Media Week likes to predict the ratings/viewership for college football (and NFL and other sporting events) for the upcoming weekend.

So I plan to predict to do so independently of theirs. I will pick which college football games each week will pass five million viewers.

Sept. 9: I think it's a lock Texas at Alabama will pass the 5 million mark easily. I think it will be close to the Alabama-LSU game on ESPN last year (7.58 million). I'd put it around the 7 million mark. It is earlier in the season but Texas of course is a bigger market.

I wasn't sure if Nebraska-Colorado would do it because I thought it would be lopsided but the closer that game gets and if Notre Dame-NC State remains in a delay Nebraska-Colorado might have a shot.

I imagine the Texas @ Alabama game will be pretty high on the list. Anytime Alabama loses it seems to be one of the top rated games of the year. I’m not sure it will beat LSU/FSU though.

(09-10-2023 03:19 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  I imagine the Texas @ Alabama game will be pretty high on the list. Anytime Alabama loses it seems to be one of the top rated games of the year. I’m not sure it will beat LSU/FSU though.

15 million Spectrum customers were blacked out of the game - I think the rating will be much lower than expected

SMW Week 2:
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/09...iewership/

I was a bit below the rating for Texas-Alabama. SkullyMaroo correctly predicted that an Alabama loss would drive up the viewership. On the other hand, last year's Alabama-LSU viewership was also for an Alabama loss and it was in November. I think it aired during the World Series so that might have hurt its viewership.

Also I didn't think Deion would get anywhere near close to nine million viewers. I said it would have a shot with Notre Dame-NC State being delayed. The fact that it was a blowout didn't seem to hurt, imagine if they were in a competitive game. Now this week Colorado is playing at 10pm ET, on ESPN, and playing Colorado State, a G5 opponent. If they get 8.73 million for this one, Deion mania is really crazy.

There is no Big Ten cheerleading portion this week, we all sucked in viewership. Michigan lost to Texas A&M-Miami as well as Iowa-Iowa State. Maryland? I don't want to talk about it. Well let's just say Ohio State got almost twice as many viewers on BTN than Maryland got on NBC!

I don't expect any games this week to top 5 million viewers but I didn't expect Nebraska-Colorado to top 5 million viewers last week and they got 8.73 million! Now this week they are playing at 10pm ET on ESPN as opposed to FOX at noon ET (an early time slot but a slot that has gotten large audiences in the past, especially for Ohio State/Michigan annually). Last season, the largest audience for an ESPN game that aired in the late night window was Utah at Oregon which had 2.54M on 11/19. Of course Colorado St/Colorado will easily top that, likely ESPN's most watched graveyard shift game ever. Another noteworthy graveyard shift number is Duke-Gonzaga men's basketball which aired on Black Friday in 2021, it had 2.79 million (https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/11...ed-2004/). I would say 3 million easily but I expect a blowout and most people on the East Coast and Central Time Zone will tune out and go to bed ... literally ... if it's 35-0 at halftime.

Is schmolik version, like Taylor's version? I don't see a difference.

Sept. 16 SMW:

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/09...me-season/

Can't believe 9.30 million viewers for a 10pm ET game on ESPN, especially vs. Colorado State. Of course no one saw that game going to double overtime either. Considering that game ended so late it shouldn't have affected the average viewership). "The Buffaloes’ double-overtime win, which peaked with 11.1 million viewers from 11-11:15 PM ET, also delivered the largest college football audience of the season. It's really unusual for viewership for a game that goes double OT to peak in the second hour.

Other news:
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/09...a-usf-abc/

Two good numbers for the SEC.

As for the Big Ten, the "Big Nooner" lost to the ACC's Florida State game (was close compared to the Schmolik Bowl which was a blowout. NBC's prime time did better than last week (couldn't be worse!) but "NBC — the Big Ten’s new primetime broadcast partner — was outdrawn head-to-head by Bowling Green-Michigan on BTN, which averaged 1.32 million." This and last week might tell us that it really doesn't matter who they play, just air the Big Three over anyone else. I know BTN wants cable subscriptions but NBC paid a ton of money too and I'm sure they don't want to see lower viewership than BTN games.

The SEC is happy but ABC isn't. "All three Saturday night games on ABC this season have declined double-digits." No doubt ESPN outdrew ABC the last two weeks (not sure about Week 1). The last two weeks Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit called ESPN SEC games instead of SNF games. The only thing that can save SNF this season now is Deion.

Looking at FOX's Pregame vs. College Gameday...

Using SMW's weekly ratings (https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/categor...ratings/), they give separate ratings for the 10am hour and the 11am hour for FOX but one rating for College Gameday.

9/2: CG: 1.658M, FOX 11am: 1.345M, FOX 10am: 618K
9/9: CG: 1.690M, FOX 11am: 1.698M, FOX 10am: 724K
9/16: CG: 2.213M, FOX 11am: 1.215M, FOX 10am: 640K

On 9/9, the 11am FOX Big Noon hour had more viewers than the average of College Gameday (I assume CG had more viewers between 11-12). But last week it was a blowout. Going to Colorado didn't help FOX and likely hurt them (lower than Week 1). Both Big Nooners in the first two weeks featured Colorado but in Week 3, Penn State-Illinois lost to Florida State-Boston College. If FOX had plugged Penn State-Illinois during their pregame instead of Colorado, maybe PSU/Ill wins the time slot (it was 3.48M to 3.22M).

But FOX can't go to the same site and expect to compete with ESPN.

(09-19-2023 05:01 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Looking at FOX's Pregame vs. College Gameday...

Using SMW's weekly ratings (https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/categor...ratings/), they give separate ratings for the 10am hour and the 11am hour for FOX but one rating for College Gameday.

9/2: CG: 1.658M, FOX 11am: 1.345M, FOX 10am: 618K
9/9: CG: 1.690M, FOX 11am: 1.698M, FOX 10am: 724K
9/16: CG: 2.213M, FOX 11am: 1.215M, FOX 10am: 640K

On 9/9, the 11am FOX Big Noon hour had more viewers than the average of College Gameday (I assume CG had more viewers between 11-12). But last week it was a blowout. Going to Colorado didn't help FOX and likely hurt them (lower than Week 1). Both Big Nooners in the first two weeks featured Colorado but in Week 3, Penn State-Illinois lost to Florida State-Boston College. If FOX had plugged Penn State-Illinois during their pregame instead of Colorado, maybe PSU/Ill wins the time slot (it was 3.48M to 3.22M).

But FOX can't go to the same site and expect to compete with ESPN.

Look - I wish I could say that Fox would have done better going to Illinois (in my self-interest as an Illini), but that wasn’t going to happen. ESPN managed to get The Rock at GameDay and hadn’t been to Boulder in a long time. It didn’t matter where Fox had its pregame show. It likely would have been the case that Fox would have done even worse going to Champaign considering that Lil Wayne wasn’t showing up for our game (like he did for Fox in Boulder). The fact that Fox actually beat ESPN for the last hour on 9/9 is actually pretty stunning in showing the power of Deion as that virtually never happens (and likely why Fox was quick to pull the trigger on going to Boulder again). The ratings for the CU-CSU game leave no doubt: follow Deion.

(09-19-2023 04:46 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Sept. 16 SMW:

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/09...me-season/

Can't believe 9.30 million viewers for a 10pm ET game on ESPN, especially vs. Colorado State. Of course no one saw that game going to double overtime either. Considering that game ended so late it shouldn't have affected the average viewership). "The Buffaloes’ double-overtime win, which peaked with 11.1 million viewers from 11-11:15 PM ET, also delivered the largest college football audience of the season. It's really unusual for viewership for a game that goes double OT to peak in the second hour.

Other news:
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/09...a-usf-abc/

Two good numbers for the SEC.

As for the Big Ten, the "Big Nooner" lost to the ACC's Florida State game (was close compared to the Schmolik Bowl which was a blowout. NBC's prime time did better than last week (couldn't be worse!) but "NBC — the Big Ten’s new primetime broadcast partner — was outdrawn head-to-head by Bowling Green-Michigan on BTN, which averaged 1.32 million." This and last week might tell us that it really doesn't matter who they play, just air the Big Three over anyone else. I know BTN wants cable subscriptions but NBC paid a ton of money too and I'm sure they don't want to see lower viewership than BTN games.

The SEC is happy but ABC isn't. "All three Saturday night games on ABC this season have declined double-digits." No doubt ESPN outdrew ABC the last two weeks (not sure about Week 1). The last two weeks Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit called ESPN SEC games instead of SNF games. The only thing that can save SNF this season now is Deion.

ABC knows what's coming next year.

(09-19-2023 04:46 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Sept. 16 SMW:

This and last week might tell us that it really doesn't matter who they play, just air the Big Three over anyone else. I know BTN wants cable subscriptions but NBC paid a ton of money too and I'm sure they don't want to see lower viewership than BTN games.

Yeah this is why the no November night game for the Big Three wasn't going to fly for NBC.

I'm curious to see what type of ratings conference games not involving the Big 3 are going to get.

(09-20-2023 10:57 AM)Glenn360 Wrote:  

(09-19-2023 04:46 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Sept. 16 SMW:

This and last week might tell us that it really doesn't matter who they play, just air the Big Three over anyone else. I know BTN wants cable subscriptions but NBC paid a ton of money too and I'm sure they don't want to see lower viewership than BTN games.

Yeah this is why the no November night game for the Big Three wasn't going to fly for NBC.

I'm curious to see what type of ratings conference games not involving the Big 3 are going to get.

We know the answer.

Week 2: Charlotte at Maryland: 0.665M (or 665K)!
Week 3: Syracuse at Purdue: 1.25M

By contrast:
Week 1: West Virginia at Penn State: 3.50M

Also...
Week 3: Bowling Green at Michigan, BTN, 7:30pm, 1.32M (higher than Syr-Pur on NBC airing at the same!)
Week 2: Youngstown State at Ohio State, BTN, noon, 1.22M (not head to head with Charl-Md but almost twice the viewers)

Week 2: UNLV at Ohio State. CBS, 2.97M
Week 3: Western Kentucky at Ohio State, FOX, 4pm, 2.82M

There's the Big Three and everyone else. Now will the Pacific 4 be closer to the Big Three or the "Little Eleven" I don't know. I would say Maryland and Purdue are probably closer to the bottom of the Big Ten, I'd imagine schools like Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan State would draw higher ratings. Also, conference game ratings should improve viewership as should later weeks.

(09-20-2023 03:59 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-20-2023 10:57 AM)Glenn360 Wrote:  

(09-19-2023 04:46 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Sept. 16 SMW:

This and last week might tell us that it really doesn't matter who they play, just air the Big Three over anyone else. I know BTN wants cable subscriptions but NBC paid a ton of money too and I'm sure they don't want to see lower viewership than BTN games.

Yeah this is why the no November night game for the Big Three wasn't going to fly for NBC.

I'm curious to see what type of ratings conference games not involving the Big 3 are going to get.

We know the answer.

Week 2: Charlotte at Maryland: 0.665M (or 665K)!
Week 3: Syracuse at Purdue: 1.25M

By contrast:
Week 1: West Virginia at Penn State: 3.50M

Also...
Week 3: Bowling Green at Michigan, BTN, 7:30pm, 1.32M (higher than Syr-Pur on NBC airing at the same!)
Week 2: Youngstown State at Ohio State, BTN, noon, 1.22M (not head to head with Charl-Md but almost twice the viewers)

Week 2: UNLV at Ohio State. CBS, 2.97M
Week 3: Western Kentucky at Ohio State, FOX, 4pm, 2.82M

There's the Big Three and everyone else. Now will the Pacific 4 be closer to the Big Three or the "Little Eleven" I don't know. I would say Maryland and Purdue are probably closer to the bottom of the Big Ten, I'd imagine schools like Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan State would draw higher ratings. Also, conference game ratings should improve viewership as should later weeks.

Colorado

Also did NBC screw themselves over? There was nothing stopping them from putting Washington-Michigan State as the Saturday Night game, they had the rights to it. I'm sure we all agree it would have had better viewership than Syracuse-Purdue. But NBC wanted to get a few more Peacock subscriptions. Do we even know know many people watched the game? If they can count how many people watch NFL games on Amazon Prime, they can count how many people watch games on Peacock. If it was worth advertising, why wouldn't NBC release the number? Maybe NBC doesn't want to say because it's embarrassingly low? In Week 2 while NBC was showing Charlotte-Maryland, Peacock had Delaware-Penn State. Last year Ohio U played at Penn State at noon on ABC and got 1.55M. Now Delaware is FCS and had Delaware-PSU aired in prime time on NBC it would have gone vs. Texas-Alabama but I'm sure it would have easily topped a million viewers (Charlotte-Maryland got 665 THOUSAND. I've picked on Notre Dame games on NBC all the time and I can't even remember a Notre Dame game THAT bad).

If NBC wants to get a few more Peacock subscriptions and put better games on Peacock and lesser games on Saturday nights on NBC, don't cry when your ratings suck.

Big viewership battle this weekend at 3:30pm between Colorado-Oregon on ABC and Mississippi-Alabama on CBS. I'm sure I'll be under but I'll say 9 million for Colo/Ore and I'll say 5 million for Miss-Ala.

Last year, Notre Dame-Ohio State had 10.53 million on ABC but it was the season opener and this year Iowa-Penn State could steal some viewers (I of course will watch that game at least for a good portion). I'll say 10 million with Iowa-PSU getting 3 million on CBS. It is a shame this game is going head to head vs. ND-OSU, it likely would get 5 million if in a less competitive timeslot. In 2021, PSU-Iowa had 6.904 million although it was a few weeks later in the season.

Florida State-Clemson would be bigger if it weren't for that Duke loss. They should easily win the noon slot and it's great for the ACC that they are in the noon slot but I wouldn't expect 5 million, 3-4 million seems more likely.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/09...iewership/

Deion still rules.

"Perhaps the biggest testament to Colorado’s drawing power in the Deion Sanders era is that their blowout loss to Oregon eked out a ratings victory over Ohio State’s nailbiter against Notre Dame."



"In just four weeks this season, six games have averaged at least eight million viewers — one shy of last year’s full regular season total."

"Colorado-Oregon was the most-watched regular season game on ABC since Notre Dame-Ohio State on the opening weekend of last season (10.53M) and the network’s most-watched afternoon game since Michigan-Ohio State in 2016 (16.84M). "

Next week FOX gets the golden goose...

I know this thread has not gotten many replies, but I do find it interesting.

FSU vs Clemson had a better than expected rating. FSU has a bye this coming week.

(09-26-2023 06:33 PM)Garrettabc Wrote:  I know this thread has not gotten many replies, but I do find it interesting.

FSU vs Clemson had a better than expected rating. FSU has a bye this coming week.

Florida State winning is music to the ACC"s office's ears.