ESPN/ABC College Football Week 6: Five of Six Most-Watched Games; ABC Televises Most-Viewed Game of the Week

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ESPN/ABC College Football Week 6: Five of Six Most-Watched Games; ABC Televises Most-Viewed Game of the Week

  • ABC’s No. 10 Oklahoma vs. Texas was Most-Viewed Game of the Week; Most-Watched Red River Rivalry Since 2011
  • 23 Cal at No. 5 Utah: Fourth Best Regular Season College Football Game Ever on WatchESPN, Most-Watched 10 p.m. ET Game of the Season on TV
  • ESPN/ABC: Televises No. 1 Prime-Time Game Once Again

ESPN/ABC televised five of the six most-watched games in college football week 6, including the most-watched game of the week – then-No. 10 Oklahoma vs. Texas (noon ET on ABC) which earned an average of 4,992,000 viewers. The 2015 edition of the Red River Rivalry was the most-watched Sooners-Longhorn matchup since 2011 — up 18% from 2014, 6% from 2013 and 12% from 2012 (all three games at noon on ABC). Additionally, this season’s Oklahoma-Texas matchup is up 53% from the same television window in 2014 (Ohio State at Maryland).

On WatchESPN, No. 23 Cal at No. 5 Utah (ESPN at 10:15 p.m.) was the most-streamed game in week 6 with an additional 87,000 average minute impressions to the TV audience and a total of 343,000 unique viewers accounting for 19,654,000 minutes viewed. The matchup was the fourth most-streamed regular season college football game ever on WatchESPN and, now, four of WatchESPN’s five most-streamed regular-season college football games have occurred this season:

Rank Average Minute Impressions Game Date
1. 194,000 No. 1 Ohio State at Virginia Tech Sept 7, 2015
2. 128,000 No. 15 Ole Miss at No. 2 Alabama Sept 19, 2015
3. 119,000 No. 15 Auburn at No. 1 Alabama Nov 29, 2014
4. 87,000 No. 23 Cal at No. 5 Utah Oct 10, 2015
5. 85,000 No. 2 TCU at Minnesota Sept 3, 2015

Rank based on average minute impressions

 On ESPN, the Golden Bears-Utes matchup garnered 2,820,000 viewers – the most-watched 10 p.m. window of the 2015 season across all networks. Additionally, the game was the third most-watched night game of week 6 and up 39% compared to last year’s same window (Utah at UCLA).

Additional Week 6 Highlights:

  • Arkansas at No. 8 Alabama (ESPN at 7 p.m.) was the most-watched prime-time game, earning an average of 4,835,000 viewers. The matchup was up 29% from last season’s similar SEC window (LSU at Auburn). ESPN/ABC has televised the most-watched prime-time game each week of the 2015 college football season.
  • ABC’s Saturday Night Football featuring Miami at No. 12 Florida State averaged 3,502,000 viewers, the second-most watched prime-time college football game of the week
  • Regionalized action on ABC at 3:30 p.m. (Wisconsin at Nebraska and Georgia Tech at No. 6 Clemson) garnered 3,466,000 viewers, up 3% from last season’s regionalized window (Baylor at Texas and Wake Forest at Florida State).
  • Throughout all of week 6, college football on WatchESPN was viewed on a total of 1,600,000 unique devices that streamed 136,600,000 million minutes, up 69% and 51%, respectively, over 2014’s week 6.

Please note:  All games referenced were on Sat, Oct. 10, and comparable year-over-year games were Sat, Oct. 4, 2014.

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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; [email protected] and @DerekVolner

Derek Volner

I currently lead ESPN’s NFL Communications, including Monday Night Football, NFL Draft and studio programming. Previously, I did the same for ESPN’s vast college football portfolio. I have been with ESPN since 2013.
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