Notre Dame at Texas: Massive 7.0 Overnight on ABC; Sets Multiple Streaming Records

Sunday night's two-overtime thriller between No. 10 Notre Dame and Texas (7:30 p.m. ET on ABC) earned a massive 7.0 overnight rating, ESPN/ABC's second highest kickoff weekend overnight on record, including Labor Day night's games, and the networks' best kickoff weekend overnight in the last 11 seasons. Additionally, on WatchESPN, the Longhorns' 50-47 victory stream had an average minute audience of 194,000 for a total of 786,000 unique viewers viewing 49,900,000 minutes overall - all-time highs in each category for a regular season college football game on the product.

ESPN/ABC Kickoff Weekend Success

The Fighting Irish-Longhorns' overnight surpasses Boise State at Virginia Tech on ESPN from Monday, Sept. 6, 2010 (6.7 overnight) for ESPN/ABC's second-best kickoff weekend overnight, trailing only Miami at Florida State on ABC from September 5, 2005 (7.2). Also, when factoring in last season's Ohio State at Virginia Tech Labor Day Night game (6.6 overnight), ESPN/ABC has achieved two of the top 4 kickoff weekend overnights on record in the last two seasons.

Austin Sets Local Market Record

Locally, Austin had a 25.4 overnight rating, the No. 1 market for the game and Austin's best overnight for an opening weekend game ever on ESPN's networks.

In addition to Austin, six other markets set local market highs for a kickoff weekend game on ESPN's networks:

· San Antonio (15.1)

· Dallas (13.1)

· Indianapolis (11.2)

· Albuquerque (7.1)

· San Diego (6.8)

· Philadelphia (6.4)

Overall, the top 10 markets for Notre Dame at Texas:
Rank Local Rating Market
1 25.4 Austin
2 17.3 Birmingham
3 15.1 San Antonio
4 13.1 Dallas-Ft. Worth
5 12.8 Oklahoma City
6 12.7 Columbus, OH
7 11.5 Houston
8 11.2 Indianapolis
9 11.0 Knoxville
10 10.7 Greenville

ESPN/ABC Achieve Top 5 Highest Overnights of College Football Best Kickoff Weekend Ever

Now, as a result, ESPN/ABC have the five highest overnights for college football's best kickoff weekend ever, with USC-Alabama (4.9 overnight), LSU-Wisconsin (4.9), Oklahoma-Houston (4.0), and Clemson-Auburn (2.8) rounding out the top 5.

*Overnight data exists back to 2004 for ABC and 2001 for ESPN. For ABC, only full national games are available.

College Football's Best Opening Weekend Concludes with Top Matchup - No. 11 Ole Miss vs. No. 4 Florida State

ESPN will conclude college football's first week with its annual Labor Day night game, this year with No. 11 Ole Miss vs. No. 4 Florida State (8 p.m.) in the 2016 Camping World Kickoff from Orlando, Fla. It is ESPN's 13th annual prime-time Labor Day game, having begun in 2002*, and Florida State's fifth appearance in the game and Ole Miss' second.

*No game in 2004 due to Hurricane Francis

Notre Dame at Texas: Most-Watched Kickoff Weekend Game On Record Across All Networks

· Total Live Audience Measurement of 11,093,000 Average Viewers

· Record-Setting Game for ABC and ESPN Streaming

· Last Two Years Has Delivered ESPN/ABC's Two Biggest Kickoff Weekend Total Live Audiences

Sunday night's two-overtime thriller between No. 10 Notre Dame and Texas (7:30 p.m. on ABC) delivered a total live audience measurement (TV + Streaming) of 11,093,000 average viewers, the most-watched college football kickoff weekend game on record across all networks*.

For ESPN/ABC, the Fighting Irish-Longhorns' total live audience measurement is a 3% increase over last season's Labor Day Night game between Ohio State and Virginia Tech on September 7, 2015. The Buckeyes-Hokies game previously held the sport's opening weekend best total live audience with 10,760,000 average viewers.

ABC and ESPN Streaming Set Individual Records

The Notre Dame-Texas audience of 10,899,000 average viewers on ABC represents the largest TV audience for an opening weekend game on record across all networks.

For ESPN/ABC, the Longhorns' 50-47 victory TV audience, once again, tops last season's Labor Day Night game between the Buckeyes and Hokies (10,585,000 average viewers), which previously held the highest television viewership for kickoff weekend.

As documented in this morning's release, the streaming audience for the Longhorns' 50-47 victory set new ESPN records for a regular season college football game, with an average minute audience of 194,000 and a total of 786,000 unique viewers viewing 49,900,000 minutes overall.

Late Game Drama Peaks Viewership

Last night's ABC audience peaked at 13,522,000 average viewers between 11 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. ET as the fourth quarter came to a conclusion and overtime began.

*Records date back to 1990 for ESPN and 1996 for ABC. Competitive networks include CBS, Fox, FS1, FX, NBCSN and TBS. Data goes back as far to 1996 with CBS. TV data based on Fast Nationals

College Football's Best Opening Weekend Concludes with Top Matchup - No. 11 Ole Miss vs. No. 4 Florida State

ESPN will conclude college football's first week with its annual Labor Day night game, this year with No. 11 Ole Miss vs. No. 4 Florida State (8 p.m.) in the 2016 Camping World Kickoff from Orlando, Fla. It is ESPN's 13th annual prime-time Labor Day game, having begun in 2002*, and Florida State's fifth appearance in the game and Ole Miss' second.

*No game in 2004 due to Hurricane Francis