- Fifth Straight Saturday ABC or ESPN Won the Night
- ABC, ESPN & ESPN2 Post Saturday Night’s Most-Viewed Games
- ESPN, ABC & ESPNU Increases Over 2012
- Millions Go to ESPN Mobile Offerings
- Birmingham & Columbus Top Markets for ESPN & ABC Saturday Night Games
For the fifth consecutive Saturday of the 2013 college football season, an ABC or ESPN game telecast has helped the networks win the night across all networks in viewers and key male and adult demographics (18-34, 18-49 and 25-54). The Saturday Night Football Presented by Windows telecast on ABC – Ohio State over Wisconsin 31-24 – averaged 6,751,000 viewers and a 4.0 household US rating, helping the network to the top spot on September 28.
A prime-time doubleheader helped ESPN to finish second across all networks in the key male and adult demographics on Saturday night. The telecast of Alabama beating Ole Miss 25-0 at 6:30 p.m. ET averaged 4,022,000 viewers and a 2.3 HH US rating while Stanford’s 55-17 victory over Washington State at 10 p.m. averaged 1,851,000 viewers and a 1.2 HH US rating.
ESPN2’s coverage of Texas A&M defeating Arkansas 45-33 on September 28 at 7 p.m. averaged 2,761,000 and a 1.7 HH US rating. Combined, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 televised the four most-viewed college football games on Saturday night.
Saturday Night Increases
ABC, ESPN and ESPNU’s 2013 Saturday night college football games are generating larger audiences than through the same point in 2012.
- ABC Saturday Night Football is averaging 6,351,000 viewers and a 3.8 HH US rating, increases of 17 percent (vs. 5,439,000) and 13 percent (vs. 3.4), respectively, over 2012.
- ESPN’s Saturday night series is experiencing significant growth over last season, averaging 3,899,000 viewers and a 2.3 HH US rating this season, increases of 33 percent (vs. 2,937,000) and 28 percent (vs. 1.8), respectively.
- ESPNU’s Saturday game night telecasts are averaging 651,000 viewers and a 0.4 HH US rating, increases of 30 percent in viewers (vs. 502,000) and 33 percent in ratings (vs. 0.3) over last season.
In addition, ESPN’s weekly Thursday game has also generated larger audiences over 2012, averaging 2,681,000 viewers and a 1.8 HH US rating, increases of 15 percent (vs. 2,339,000) and 13 percent (vs. 1.6), respectively. The network’s overall college football game coverage is averaging 3,104,000 viewers and a 2.0 HH US rating, 16 percent (vs. 2,675,000) and 18 percent (vs. 1.7) higher than 2012 games.
Metered Markets for ESPN ABC Saturday Night Games Led by Birmingham & Columbus
Birmingham and Columbus generated the highest metered market ratings for ESPN and ABC’s Saturday night game telecasts, respectively.
- ESPN’s Ole Miss at Alabama telecast generated a 43.4 rating in the market, marking the third highest regular-season college football game on an ESPN network in Birmingham (behind a 51.2 for Alabama at Auburn on November 24, 2007 on ESPN and a 44.1 for Ole Miss at Alabama on October 16, 2010 on ESPN2). Memphis was the second largest market with a 12.5 rating followed by Atlanta (6.9), Knoxville (6.8), Greenville (5.9), New Orleans (5.5), Nashville (5.2), Charlotte (4.7), Oklahoma City (3.5) and Norfolk (3.3).
- The state of Ohio had the top three markets for Wisconsin at Ohio State on ABC, led by Columbus with a 40.0 rating. Dayton came in second with a 24.0 followed by Cleveland (21.4), Milwaukee (16.7), Cincinnati (9.1), Detroit (6.3), Minneapolis-St. Paul (5.8), Indianapolis (5.7), Oklahoma City (5.3) and Charlotte (5.1).
ESPN Digital Platforms Continue to Post Growth
ESPN Digital Media’s college football content across all platforms ESPN.com homepage and college football section, the ESPN Mobile Web college football section, ESPN ScoreCenter app’s the lead and college football card, WatchESPN/ESPN3 and the ESPN College Football app – continued significant growth in Week 5, generating an average audience of 232,000 on Saturday, an increase of 11 percent over 2012.
On Saturday, more than 6,300,000 fans accessed the ScoreCenter app with an average minute audience of 99,000 (up 9 percent and 65 percent over 2012, respectively). ESPN’s College Football app reached nearly 1,200,000 unique visitors with an average minute audience of more than 10,700 (up 31 percent and 38 percent over 2012, respectively).
Also on Saturday, video starts of college football content on ESPN.com totaled 2,700,000, up 18 percent over last year.
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