Ole Miss vs. Florida State: Concludes College Football’s Best Kickoff Weekend Ever with Impressive 5.3 Overnight on ESPN and Sets New ESPN College Football Streaming Record for the Second Time in Consecutive Nights
- ESPN Streaming: Annual Labor Day Night Game Surpasses Record-Setting Notre Dame at Texas Game from Sunday Night
- On ESPN: Network’s Highest Overnight of the Weekend and a Top 5 Labor Day Game Ever on ESPN; Second Best Overnight of Kickoff Weekend Across All Networks
- College Football’s Kickoff Weekend on ESPN/ABC: Top Six Overnights Across All Nets; Expected to Win the Night Each Night of Labor Day Weekend
ESPN concluded college football’s best opening week ever – No. 11 Ole Miss vs. No. 4 Florida State (8 p.m. on ESPN) — by setting new records for ESPN streaming, receiving a 5.3 overnight on ESPN – the network’s top overnight of the weekend, the second best overnight among all college football games across all networks and a top 5 overnight for an ESPN Labor Day matchup – and expecting to win the night across all broadcast and cable networks.
ESPN Streaming Sets New Record for Second Consecutive Night
ESPN’s streaming audience for the Seminoles’ 45-34 victory set new all-time highs for a regular season ESPN college football game with an average minute audience of 231,000 viewers and a total of 854,000 unique viewers viewing 59,700,000 minutes overall. The Rebels-Seminoles’ matchup surpassed the previous record holder which occurred just 24 hours earlier: No. 10 Notre Dame at Texas on September 4, 2016 (7:30 p.m. on ABC).
ESPN Streaming: College Football Regular Season Game Records
| Game | Date | Average Minute Audience (Rank) | Unique Viewers (Rank) | Total Minutes Viewed (Rank) |
| No. 11 Ole Miss vs. No. 4 Florida State | Sept. 5, 2016 | 231,000 viewers (1st) | 854,000 (1st) | 59,700,000 (1st) |
| No. 10 Notre Dame at Texas | Sept. 4, 2016 | 194,000 viewers (2nd) | 786,000 (2nd) | 49,900,000 (2nd) |
Also this weekend, the No. 5 LSU vs. Wisconsin game stream on September 3, 2016 (3:30 p.m. on ABC) had an average minute audience of 151,000 viewers, ranking as the fifth-best college football streaming audience all-time for ESPN.
Ole Miss vs. Florida State Delivers 5.3 Overnight on ESPN and is a Top 5 Labor Day Game Ever on ESPN; ESPN/ABC Earn Top Six Kickoff Weekend Overnights Across All Networks
On ESPN, the Labor Day Night game delivered an impressive 5.3 overnight rating. As previously mentioned, the overnight is ESPN’s highest overnight of the weekend and the second highest overnight for college football’s best kickoff weekend across all networks. As a result, ESPN/ABC finished with the top six overnights of the weekend across all networks, with Notre Dame at Texas (7.0 overnight) leading the way, followed by Ole Miss-FSU and then USC-Alabama (4.9), LSU-Wisconsin (4.9), Oklahoma-Houston (4.0), and Clemson-Auburn (2.8).
Additionally, the Ole Miss-Florida State game is a top five overnight for a Labor Day game on ESPN among the 19 college football games the network has televised on the holiday.
Labor Day Weekend: ESPN or ABC Expected to Win the Night Each Night
Propelled by USC vs. Alabama (Saturday, Sept. 3 on ABC), Notre Dame at Texas (Sunday, Sept. 4 on ABC), and Ole Miss vs. Florida State (Monday, Sept. 5 on ESPN), ABC or ESPN is expected to win the night across all broadcasts and cable networks for each night of Labor Day Weekend.
Top 10 Local Markets for Ole Miss vs. Florida State
| Rank | Local Rating | Market |
| 1 | 22.5 | Birmingham |
| 2 | 16.9 | Jacksonville |
| 3 | 14.3 | Memphis |
| 4 | 12.2 | Orlando |
| 5 | 11.8 | Greenville |
| 6 | 11.2 | Knoxville |
| 7 | 10.8 | Tampa-St. Pete |
| 8 | 10.2 | Atlanta |
| 9 | 10.0 | West Palm Beach |
| 10 | 9.8 | Nashville |
Memphis’ 14.3 rating is the market’s second best for an ESPN/ABC kickoff weekend game.
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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; [email protected] and @DerekVolner
