Led by the ABC’s Saturday Night Football thriller, — No. 3 Louisville at No. 5 Clemson (8 p.m. ET), ESPN/ABC’s Top 10 Throwdown Week (three in-conference Top 10 matchups) resulted in the networks airing the top three overnights of college football’s week 5 and five of the top six across all networks.
The Cardinals-Tigers showdown earned a massive 6.0 overnight and a streaming average minute audience of 200,000 viewers, the highest overnight and most-streamed game of Week 5 across all networks. The down-to-the-end Tigers’ victory resulted in a number of superlatives:
· Among 2016 Season Best: 6.0 overnight is the highest overnight for a Saturday college football game of the season and second highest overnight overall, trailing only Notre Dame at Texas (7.0 overnight) from Week 1 (Sunday, Sept. 4). Combined with the Fighting Irish-Longhorns game, ABC has televised the two top overnights of the 2016 season across all networks.
· Up Year Over Year: Saturday Night Football saw a 25% increase in overnight from last season’s Notre Dame at Clemson matchup (4.8 overnight), which was the 2015 week 5 Saturday Night Football matchup.
· ABC Prime Time: The Cardinals-Tigers game was the highest overnight for ABC’s Saturday Night Football since 2014 ACC Championship game when Florida State defeated Georgia Tech.
· A Top ESPN Streaming Audience: With an average minute audience of 200,000 viewers and 812,000 unique viewers waching a total of 51,100,000 minutes, Louisville-Clemson is a top 3 most-streamed regular season college football game ever for ESPN*. Additionally, the stream is up 200%, 125%, and 219% year over year in average minute audience, unique viewers and total minutes, respectively, over the previously mentioned Notre Dame at Clemson game from last season.
· Local Interests Sets the Pace: The two top markets for last night’s game was Louisville (24.9) and Greenville, S.C.(20.1). The top 10 markets were:
|
Rank |
Market |
Local Rating |
|
1 |
Louisville |
24.9 |
|
2 |
Greenville, SC |
20.1 |
|
3 |
Columbus, OH |
14.4 |
|
4 |
Birmingham |
14.0 |
|
5 |
Nashville |
11.7 |
|
6 |
Charlotte |
11.6 |
|
7 |
Atlanta |
11.0 |
|
8 |
Knoxville |
10.9 |
|
9 |
Jacksonville |
10.7 |
|
10 |
Dayton |
10.5 |
Top 10 Throwdowns: Wisconsin at Michigan, Stanford at Washington Deliver
Saturday afternoon, No. 8 Wisconsin at No. 4 Michigan (3:30 p.m. on ABC) delivered a 4.5 overnight, the second highest overnight of week 5 across all networks. The stream had an average minute audience of 146,000 viewers and a total of 538,000 unique viewers watching 28,419,000 minutes, up 51%, 2%, and 22% respectively year over year (regional action: Ohio State at Indiana and Texas Tech at Baylor). The top five local markets were:
|
Rank |
Market |
Rating |
|
1 |
Milwaukee |
22.1 |
|
2 |
Detroit |
21.6 |
|
3 |
Columbus, OH |
19.0 |
|
4 |
Dayton |
11.1 |
|
5 |
Cleveland-Akron |
9.3 |
A rare, Top 10 Friday night matchup — Stanford at Washington (9 p.m. ET on ESPN) — resulted in strong ratings and set an ESPN streaming record. The Pac-12 game delivered a 2.4 overnight rating, the best regular season Friday night game on ESPN since 2012 and the fourth best on record** (non-Thanksgiving weekend). In Seattle, the game generated a 13.2 rating, the market’s second highest rating*** for a regular season college football game on ESPN****. Additionally, the game became ESPN’s most-streamed regular season Friday night game ever with an average minute audience of 91,000 viewers and a total of 354,000 unique viewers watching 18,200,000 total minutes.
Additional highlights Week 5 Highlights:
· The first game of ABC’s triple header Texas at Oklahoma State (noon) delivered a 2.7 overnight, the third highest overnight of week 5 across all networks and up 35% year over year (Texas at TCU).
· North Carolina at Florida State (3:30 p.m. on ESPN) earned an overnight of 1.3, up 63% year over year (Florida State vs. Wake Forest)
*Final streaming numbers will dictate historical placement
**Overnight data exists back to 2001 for ESPN
***No. 1 local rating in Seattle: Washington at Stanford from October 5, 2013 (14.2 rating)
****Local rating data goes back to 2000
Please note: All ESPN Streaming data is preliminary and is to subject to change. Final numbers will be available this week
—Staff Reports
—Photo Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports