More than 7 Million Viewers for Alabama at Mississippi State, One of ESPN’s Most-Watched Regular Season Games on Record
- Crimson Tide-Bulldogs: Cable’s Most-Watched Regular Season Saturday Game in Over Two Years
- Week 11: ESPN and ABC Win the Night Among All Networks, Beat Fox in Prime Time by 138% and 132%
- Week 11: College GameDay Airs its Most-Watched Episode of the Season
ESPN televised one of its most-watched regular season college football games on record and ESPN/ABC dominated the coveted prime time audience across all networks, sports and otherwise, during college football’s week 11.
Alabama at Mississippi State Earns Historical and Season Superlatives
ESPN’s telecast of Alabama at Mississippi State (7:15 p.m.) delivered a Nielsen total live audience of 7,031,000 viewers, peaking at an impressive 11,427,000 viewers (10:15 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) Historically, the more than 7 million viewers is cable’s most-watched Saturday college football game in over two years and among ESPN’s top 10 most-viewed regular season Saturday games in more than 20 seasons.
For the 2017 season, the Crimson Tide’s last-minute victory is the sixth most-watched game across all networks, broadcast and cable, and second most-watched SEC Conference game across all networks.
For the week, the Crimson Tide-Bulldogs game generated a 199% greater audience on ESPN from last year’s comparable window (LSU at Arkansas) and outdrew Fox in primetime by 138%.
ABC’s Saturday Night Football: Notre Dame at Miami Among Most-Watched Games of Season, Up Year-Over-Year
ABC’s Saturday Night Football featuring Notre Dame at Miami (8 p.m.) delivered a total live audience of 6,879,000 viewers. The SNF audience for the Canes’ dominating win was up 5% year over year from the 2016 week 11 game (Michigan at Iowa) and outdrew Fox’s TV-only audience by 132%.
ABC and ESPN Win The Night Among All Networks; ESPN Scores with Millennials
Buoyed by the game telecasts, ESPN and ABC combined to win the night across all networks, cable and broadcasts, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. in each of the the key demos with ESPN winning among millennials (M18-34 & P18-34) and ABC winning among households, viewers and key male and adult demos (M18-49, M25-54, P18-49 and P25-54) during that specific time period.
College GameDay Sets a New Season High
College GameDay Built by The Home Depot (ESPN, 9 a.m. – noon) delivered a total live audience of 2,108,000 viewers on Saturday, Nov. 11, the most-watched telecast this season. It was the show’s first ever telecast from the University of Miami.
Season-to-Date: ABC and ESPN Draw the Biggest Audiences
ABC continues to set the pace among all networks, airing the most-watched game of the year and three of the top 5. Combined with ESPN, the two networks have aired 5 of the top 7 and 9 of the top 12 most watched games.
2017 College Football Season: Most-Watched Games
Rank | Viewership | Game | Network |
1 | 12,343,000 | Florida State vs. Alabama | ABC |
2 | 9,873,000 | Penn State at Ohio State | FOX |
3 | 8,086,000 | Oklahoma at Ohio State | ABC |
4 | 7,655,000 | Michigan vs. Florida | ABC |
5 | 7,407,000 | Georgia at Auburn | CBS |
6 | 7,031,000 | Alabama at Mississippi State | ESPN |
7 | 6,960,000 | Michigan at Penn State | ABC |
8 | 6,736,000 | LSU at Alabama | CBS |
9 | 6,727,000 | Notre Dame at Miami | ABC |
10 | 6,512,000 | Michigan State at Michigan | ABC |
11 | 5,262,000 | Penn State at Iowa | ABC |
12 | 5,141,000 | Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech | ESPN |
*Nielsen reported numbers as of Nov. 14
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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; [email protected] and @DerekVolner