ESPN Networks Increase Viewership for 2015 College Football Regular Season

· ESPN: Audience Rises for Fourth Consecutive Season

· ABC: Record Number of TV Windows; Saturday Night Football Franchise Delivers

· WatchESPN: Top 5 Games Ever; Continues Record Growth

ESPN-rated networks - ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS -- averaged 1,852,000 viewers for the 270 games televised in the 2015 college football regular season, a rise of 4% in viewership compared to 2014 regular season (1,776,000 viewers). Additionally, ESPN averaged 2,721,000 viewers for the 74 games the network aired, marking the fourth consecutive year viewership has increased:

ESPN's Average Viewership Per Game
Year Viewership
2015 2,721,000
2014 2,660,000
2013 2,644,000
2012 2,564,000

College Football Regular Season.

ABC

ABC averaged 4,979,000 viewers for 41 game-windows, the most ever carried by ABC in a single season. Additionally, heading into conference championship week, ABC Saturday Night Football was the most-watched series in all of college football, across all networks, averaging 5,340,000 viewers.

Top Games

Michigan State at Ohio State on Nov. 21 was the most-watched game of the year on ESPN/ABC (11,052,000 viewers) and the most-watched 3:30 p.m. game of college football season. Overall, ESPN/ABC televised 3 of the top 5 most-watched games and six of the top 10, both across all networks.

WatchESPN

WatchESPN had a record-setting college football regular season, streaming its five most-watched regular season college football games, ever, and nine of the top 10:

Rank Average Minute Impressions Game Date
1 194,000 Ohio State at Virginia Tech Sept 7, 2015
2 167,000 Michigan State at Michigan Oct 17, 2015
3 146,000 Florida at LSU Oct 17, 2015
4 128,000 Ole Miss at No. Alabama Sept 19, 2015
5 122,000 Michigan State at Ohio State Nov 21, 2015
6 119,000 Auburn at Alabama Nov 29, 2014
7 118,000 Ohio State at Michigan Nov. 28, 2015
8 105,000 Florida State at Clemson Nov 7, 2015
9 101,000 North Carolina at Clemson Dec. 5, 2015
10 87,000 California at Utah Oct. 10, 2015

WatchESPN also experienced significant growth in 2015 with a per game increase of 54% in average minute impressions, 38% total unique viewers, and 53% total minutes viewed.

Please note: All television numbers do not include the American Championship game from Saturday, December 5, 2015. Those viewership numbers will be available on Thursday, December 10.