or


[01/11/11 - 07:59 AM]
BCS National Championship: Cable's Highest Overnight Rating
ESPN spins the numbers for Monday, January 10.
[via press release from ESPN]

BCS National Championship: Cable's Highest Overnight Rating

Record College Football Audience for ESPN3.com

ESPN's telecast of the Tostitos Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship - a last-second 22-19 Auburn victory over Oregon -- posted a 16.1 overnight metered market rating, according to Nielsen, the highest in the history of cable television (records go back to 2001). The previous high was 14.4 for an ESPN Monday Night Football game - New England at New Orleans on November 30, 2009. The 16.1 overnight rating is higher than two of the previous six BCS title games (2008 - 15.6, 2005 - 14.6), and spurred ESPN to "win the night" among all networks, broadcast or cable.

The game drew huge audiences in the teams' markets - Birmingham, Ala. (67.0) and Portland, Ore. (37.5). Rounding out the top five were Nashville (28.8), New Orleans (28.6), and Knoxville (27.7).

The telecast likely will become the most-viewed program in the history of cable television, once fast national ratings become available this afternoon. The current top spot is another ESPN MNF contest, Green Bay at Minnesota on October 5, 2009, with an audience of 21,839,000 viewers (P2+) and 15,136,000 homes, based on a 15.3 rating.

Record College Football Audience on ESPN3.com; Huge Success for Digital Platforms

On ESPN3.com, the game was watched by more than 619,000 unique viewers, making it the most unique viewers ever for a college football game on ESPN3.com and it ranks fourth all-time in unique viewers behind three 2010 FIFA World Cup contests (source: Adobe). The previous college football record was last week's Allstate Sugar Bowl (248,000 viewers), a total that was more than doubled with the Auburn-Oregon matchup.

The BCS National Championship audience also set ESPN3.com records (excluding World Cup) with an average of 173,000 people per minute and close to 42 million minutes consumed (an average of 67 minutes/viewer), making it the third most-watched event ever on the network and third all-time in minutes consumed.

Across ESPN's digital platforms (ESPN.com, ESPN Mobile Web & ScoreCenter App, and ESPN3.com), January 10 saw 144.6 million total minutes of usage to college football content, an average of over 100,000 users per minute. Highlights for the day include ESPN.com's 15 million visits, 37.2 million page views and 77.1 million total minutes to college football content, increases of 26%, 33% and 52%, respectively, compared to the day of last year's BCS National Championship game. Additionally, college football content on the ESPN Mobile Web generated 7.1 million visits (up 60%), 14.5 million page views (up 47%) and 25.9 million total minutes (up 59%).

ESPN & BCS

ESPN's first year of exclusive coverage of the five BCS matchups comprised ESPN, ESPN Radio and ESPN3.com presenting all five BCS Bowl games with ESPN 3D providing exclusive 3D coverage of the Tositios Fiesta Bowl and Tostitos BCS National Championship Game.

ESPN provided extensive on-site studio programming and reports across multiple shows and platforms, dedicated web pages for each bowl, re-airs of classic BCS games, international telecasts of all five games, encore presentations of the National Championship and more.

ESPN's year-round commitment to college football includes more than 400 games, culminating with 33 bowls, and approximately 200 million people tuned in to college football 2010 regular-season coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.





  [january 2011]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
      


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)




most recent ratings | view all posts
[03/18/25 - 02:02 PM]
ESPN Earns Event Record Viewership for Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix
ESPN's live telecast of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix this past weekend drew an average of 1.1 million viewers, the largest U.S. television audience ever for the event.
[03/18/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of March 10: "The Electric State" Energizes, "Adolescence" Excels in This Week's Top 10
Viewers also sought laughs from the Mindy Kaling comedy "Running Point" - starring Kate Hudson and set to return for Season 2 - which scored the No. 2 spot in English TV (6 million views).
[03/18/25 - 10:49 AM]
NBA on ABC Regular Season Viewership Up Double-Digits From Last Year
The "NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC" series won the night among all viewers seven out of 10 times, and among viewers younger than 50 eight out of ten times.
[03/17/25 - 11:08 AM]
"The Way Home" Finishes Thrilling Third Season as #1 Most-Watched Program on Entertainment Cable Among Women 25-54
The riveting finale was the #1 most-watched program on Friday with Women 18+, leaving viewers eager to dive back into the time-traveling pond filled with rich family history and spellbinding mystery.
[03/14/25 - 09:31 AM]
Return of AMC's "Dark Winds" Attracts 2.2 Million Premiere Night Viewers
On AMC+, the series continued its trajectory of viewership growth every season, with the season three premiere up more than 50 percent in viewership over season two, and doubling subscriber acquisition over the previous season.
[03/12/25 - 10:06 AM]
"The Last of Us" Season 2 Trailer Shatters Records, Becoming HBO and Max's Most-Watched Original Trailer with 158 Million Views
The trailer outperformed previous "The Last of Us" trailers and teasers by a margin of at least 160%.
[03/11/25 - 03:00 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for 2nd Consecutive Week
"Nightline" also improved year to year in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.
[03/11/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of March 3: "Running Point" Scores, "Plankton: The Movie" Makes a Splash in This Week's Top 10
With an A-list cast led by Robert De Niro, the political-themed limited series "Zero Day," about a devastating cyberattack, was a hit again this week, landing at No. 2 on the English TV list (7.5 million views).
[03/11/25 - 10:13 AM]
"NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC": Boston Celtics Victory Over Los Angeles Lakers was Most-Watched NBA Regular-Season Game Across Any Platform in Seven Years (Excluding Christmas)
The March 8 broadcast peaked with 5,342,000 viewers from 9:15-9:29 p.m. ET.

[03/11/25 - 08:00 AM]
"The Flip Off" Delivers HGTV's Highest-Rated Freshman Series Since 2022
The six-episode season attracted nearly 14 million total viewers across linear and streaming since its premiere on Wednesday, January 29.
[03/10/25 - 08:31 AM]
Women's College Basketball Across ESPN Platforms Scores Most-Watched Regular Season Since 2008-09
It was also the most-consumed season on record for ESPN platforms with more than 2.9 billion total minutes watched of live women's college basketball games.

[03/07/25 - 10:34 AM]
"Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage" Hits Series High Thursday Night
CBS was the #1 broadcast network last night with 5.63 million viewers, up +6% from last week and +25% more viewers than ABC and NBC combined last night (4.50 million).
[03/06/25 - 10:02 AM]
CBS' "Beyond the Gates" Improves Time Period by +78%
In its first week on air, "Beyond the Gates" reached over 5.2 million unique viewers.
[03/05/25 - 02:53 PM]
ABC News Is the Most-Watched Broadcast Network Across the Board for Second Straight Presidential Address to Congress with 6.3 Million Viewers
The network posted double-digit increases across the board compared to the previous presidential address to the joint session of Congress in 2021.
[03/05/25 - 08:04 AM]
ESPN's Excellent 2025 Continues: Company's February Viewership was Highest in Seven Years
ESPN's multi-year audience high was boosted by the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game, which scored ESPN's highest hockey audience ever, and further amplifies the company's industry-leading sports portfolio.