ESPN Scores Six of Top 10 Most-Viewed College Football Games of Week 8, Continues Year-Over-Year Viewership Growth

Syracuse at Clemson is Most-Viewed Game of the Weekend with 4.7 Million Viewers

ESPN networks notched a banner viewership week as the 2022 college football season moved past its midpoint, delivering six of the top 10 most-viewed games of Week 8 and the top college football games in the noon, afternoon, primetime and late prime windows. In addition, ABC won the noon and afternoon windows across all networks.

ABC aired the top two games of Week 8 and the most-viewed game in the noon and afternoon windows. Across all three games, ABC averaged 4.3 million viewers, the network's most-watched college football Saturday since Week 1 and up double digits from 2021's Week 8.

Syracuse and Clemson's clash in Death Valley registered 4.7 million viewers - a top-five regular-season noon game on ABC since 2018. The Orange/Tigers tussle peaked at 7.2 million viewers. In the afternoon, 4.5 million viewers tuned into Texas at Oklahoma State, the most-watched Big 12 Conference game in 2022, peaking at 6.6 million viewers.

Mississippi State at Alabama was the top college football game across cable and in primetime in Week 8 with a combined 3.6 million viewers between the main telecast on ESPN and CFB Primetime with The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN2. The audience was up slightly from the same matchup in a similar viewing window in 2021.

ESPN'S MOST-VIEWED GAMES OF WEEK 8

Top-10 Rank* Time Matchup Viewership Network

1 Noon Syracuse (21) at Clemson (27) 4.7 million ABC

2 Afternoon Texas (34) at Oklahoma State (41) 4.5 million ABC

5 Primetime Mississippi State (6) at Alabama (30) 3.6 million ESPN/ESPN2

6 Primetime Minnesota (17) at Penn State (45) 3.5 million ABC

9 Late Prime Washington (28) at California (21) 1.3 million ESPN

10 Afternoon Purdue (24) at Wisconsin (35) 1 million ESPN

* Among college football games across all networks in Week 8

Local Markets Locked in for Week 8

Syracuse at Clemson,

ABC Texas at Oklahoma State, ABC Mississippi State at Alabama, ESPN

Market Rating Market Rating Market Rating

Greenville-Sprtnburg-Ash 13.5 Oklahoma City 20.4 Birmingham 36.9

Birmingham 10.8 Tulsa 16.4 Knoxville 7.6

Oklahoma City 6.9 Austin 15.3 New Orleans 6.7

Jacksonville-N. Brunswk. 6.2 Dallas-Ft. Worth 7.3 Nashville 5.8

Charlotte 6.1 San Antonio 6.6 Memphis 5.8

College GameDay Reigns Supreme on Saturday Mornings

College GameDay Built by The Home Depot's visit to Eugene was up double digits from the Week 8 show a year ago, which also showcased the Oregon Ducks taking on Pac-12 foe UCLA. The premier pre-game show averaged 1.9 million viewers, peaking with 2.8 viewers in the episode's closing minutes. College GameDay, averaging 2.1 million viewers in 2022, remains up double digits year-over-year among both P2+ (12 percent) and P18-49 (14 percent) and is on pace for its best season since 2009.

- 30 -