or


[09/01/13 - 12:10 PM]
ESPN Networks Draw Large Audiences for College Football
ESPN spins the numbers for Saturday, August 31.

[via press release from ESPN]

ESPN Networks Draw Large Audiences for College Football

Georgia at Clemson Highest-Rated Game; Four-Hour College GameDay Draws Larger Rating; Birmingham Top Market for ESPN Tripleheader

The first Saturday of the 2013 college football season on August 31 kicked off with a large audience for a four-hour College GameDay Built by The Home Depot and continued with game and studio coverage across ESPN networks. ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU all posted significant overnight ratings, led by a 5.0 rating for the ABC Saturday Night Football Presented by Windows telecast - No. 8 Clemson topping No. 5 Georgia 38-35. The prime time opener was the highest-rated college football game of the weekend and outperformed a 4.7 overnight rating for last season's first Saturday Night Football matchup (Michigan vs. Alabama).

Overall, ESPN's three game telecasts and ABC's two windows were the five highest-rated games on Saturday, Aug. 31.

ESPN posted large audiences from morning to morning, averaging a 2.3 metered market rating for college football programming from College GameDay at 9 a.m. ET to the end of LSU vs. TCU at 12:43 a.m. (Sunday, Sept. 1). The combined rating for nearly 16 hours of college football studio and game coverage is higher than every other game across any non-ESPN network for the weekend. Highlights:

· ESPN's telecast of No. 1 Alabama defeating Virginia Tech 35-10 in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic posted a 3.1 metered market rating, the second highest game of the day across any platform.

· No. 7 Texas A&M defeating Rice 52-31 at 1 p.m. kicked off the day with a 2.9 rating while No. 12 LSU's 37-27 victory over No. 20 TCU averaged a strong 1.9 rating.

· ESPN began the day with a special four-hour College GameDay (Saturday, Aug. 31, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) that averaged a strong 1.5 metered market rating. The program originating from Clemson outperformed last season's 1.3 rating for a two-hour season-opening show.

· Birmingham, the highest-rated metered market for ESPN's regular-season game telecasts for 12 consecutive seasons, began 2013 in an impressive fashion. The football-hungry market took the top spot for ESPN's three game telecasts on Saturday, Aug. 31, with a 22.6 rating. New Orleans is second (13.7) followed by Austin (6.5), Knoxville (6.4) and Memphis (6.4).

ESPN2 also kicked off the season with a large audience, averaging a 1.5 overnight rating for No. 2 Ohio State's 40-20 victory over Buffalo at noon. The telecast marks a 150 percent increase over ESPN2's first noon game in 2012 (Northwestern at Syracuse averaged a 0.6 rating). ESPN2's late game from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. - Northwestern beating Cal 44-30 - posted a 0.6 rating.

In addition to ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, ESPNU posted strong viewership throughout the day. Its prime time coverage of Auburn defeating Washington State 31-24 averaged a 0.5 rating, tied for or better than every game against competing cable networks.





  [september 2013]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S


· SATURDAY NIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL (ABC)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[07/01/25 - 12:01 PM]
Top 10 Week of June 23: "Squid Game" Season 3 Takes Over with Record-Breaking Global Debut at No. 1
"The Waterfront" was a Top 10 hit once more as the No. 1 series on the English TV list (11.6 million views).

[07/01/25 - 10:26 AM]
ESPN Formula 1 Viewership Notes After Austrian Grand Prix
ESPN's live telecast on Sunday, June 29, averaged 1.1 million viewers, a two percent gain over last year's race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television.

[07/01/25 - 09:16 AM]
ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" Featuring the Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers Averaged 2 Million Viewers - Up 66% from Last Year's Comparable Game
The audience peaked with 2,304,000 viewers in the 9:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.

[06/27/25 - 02:29 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Gears Up for Summer Rising Week to Week in All Key Measures
Wednesday, June 11, was the most-viewed day of the week among Total Viewers (2.164 million).

[06/27/25 - 10:31 AM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tops Late-Night in Adults 18-49 for Third Week in a Row
Winning three of five nights in Kimmel's final week before summer guest hosts, Thursday, June 19, was the show's strongest night among Adults 18-49 (0.35 rating).

[06/25/25 - 11:55 AM]
Prime Video Finishes Groundbreaking First Season of Exclusive NASCAR Coverage
According to Nielsen, NASCAR on Prime posted a season average of 2.16 million viewers (AMA P2+) across five events, and attracted droves of younger viewers to its live coverage.

[06/25/25 - 07:58 AM]
ABC News Primetime Special "Karen Read: The Verdict - A Special Edition of 20/20" Ranks #1 Across All of Broadcast and Cable in Adults 18-49
Plus: "Karen Read: The Verdict" placed No. 1 based on views among all titles on Hulu on Thursday (6/19), Friday (6/20) and Saturday (6/21).

[06/24/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for 2nd Consecutive Week, and Claims Top Spot in Total Viewers for the 5th Straight Week
On Monday (6/16/25), "Nightline" scored its most-watched telecast (1.112 million) in 5 months.

[06/24/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 16: "Tyler Perry's Straw" Leads Top 10 for Third Week, "The Waterfront" Swims to No. 1
Plus: "Ginny & Georgia" Season 3 racked up another 8.1 million views and felt peachy keen at No. 2, while Season 2 landed at No. 8 and Season 1 at No. 10, with an additional 2.7 million views each.

[06/24/25 - 08:42 AM]
Third Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on ESPN: Indiana Fever vs Las Vegas Aces Averaged 1.7 Million Viewers, Up 52% from Last Year's ESPN Average
Said coverage peaked at 2.2 million viewers.

[06/23/25 - 12:09 PM]
Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Game 7 on ABC and ESPN+ Is Most-Watched NBA Finals Game in Six Years
The seven-game series averaged 10,266,000 viewers and delivered the seven most-watched broadcasts on all of television since the first week of May.

[06/18/25 - 09:01 AM]
Murder Mystery May Drives Acorn TV to the Most Successful Month In Its History
Total hours watched surpassed 20 million for the first time in Acorn TV history, with unique engaged subscribers also achieving an all-time high, up double digits from the streamer's average over the past 12 months.

[06/17/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers"
On Wednesday, "Nightline" scored its most-watched telecast (1.049 million) in 5 months and strongest delivery in Adults 25-54 (404,000) in 1 year.

[06/17/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 9: "Tyler Perry's Straw" Has Biggest Week for a Film in 2025
"Ginny & Georgia's" third season maintained its No. 1 spot on the English TV List with 16.9 million views, as fans saw their favorite characters pushed "to the limit."

[06/17/25 - 07:27 AM]
ESPN Delivered Third Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on ABC: New York Liberty Vs Indiana Fever Averaged 2.2 Million Viewers, Up 76% from Last Year's ABC Average
Said coverage peaked at 2.8 million viewers.