There have been some discussions here about television ratings in week 4 and I had not seen a post regarding week 5 yet (although there is a considerable delay in publish).

A couple of notable observations that could have longer term implications on conference realignment.

1). The ND/Oklahoma game got whitewashed in the head-to-head SEC matchup on CBS.
2). Based on these comparative ratings, ESPN and FOX appear to have overpaid for Big-12 inventory.
3). ESPN appears to have overpaid for BYU inventory.
4). Despite improved football, FOX ratings for PAC struggling.


http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-...ngs/#week5

Week 5 NCAA Football TV Ratings

Thursday, September 26
1.5 2.31M 7:30 PM Va. Tech Ga. Tech ESPN
0.2 244K 7:30 PM Iowa State Tulsa FS1
0.0 60K 7:30 PM Howard N.C. A&T ESPNU

Friday, September 27
0.6 838K 9:00 PM Utah State San Jose State ESPN
0.2 313K 9:00 PM Mid. Tennessee BYU ESPNU

Saturday, September 28
4.6 7.39M 3:30 PM LSU Georgia CBS
4.0 6.75M 8:00 PM Wisconsin Ohio State ABC
2.6 3.89M 3:30 PM Oklahoma Notre Dame NBC
2.3 4.02M 6:30 PM Mississippi Alabama ESPN
2.2 3.20M 12:00 PM South Carolina UCF ABC
1.9 2.79M 12:00 PM Oklahoma State West Virginia ESPN
1.9 2.92M 3:30 PM Iowa Minnesota ABC
FSU Boston College
1.7 2.76M 7:00 PM Texas A&M Arkansas ESPN2
1.2 1.85M 10:00 PM Stanford Washington State ESPN
1.1 1.82M 7:00 PM Arizona Washington FOX
1.0 1.56M 10:30 PM USC Arizona State ESPN2
0.5 950K 7:00 PM Florida Kentucky ESPNU
0.4 501K 12:00 PM Northern Illinois Purdue ESPN2
0.3 460K 3:30 PM Reverse mirror of ABC window ESPN2
0.3 374K 12:00 PM Miami USF ESPNU
0.2 362K 3:30 PM Wake Forest Clemson ESPNU
0.2 329K 10:15 PM Southern Miss Boise State ESPNU
0.2 263K 12:00 PM SMU TCU FS1
0.1 152K 2:00 PM Navy Western Kentucky ESPNEWS
0.1 129K 5:00 PM* Army La. Tech FS1
0.1 107K 6:15 PM* Army La. Tech FS1

(10-10-2013 10:05 AM)LSUtah Wrote:  There have been some discussions here about television ratings in week 4 and I had not seen a post regarding week 5 yet (although there is a considerable delay in publish).

A couple of notable observations that could have longer term implications on conference realignment.

1). The ND/Oklahoma game got whitewashed in the head-to-head SEC matchup on CBS.
2). Based on these comparative ratings, ESPN and FOX appear to have overpaid for Big-12 inventory.
3). ESPN appears to have overpaid for BYU inventory.
4). Despite improved football, FOX ratings for PAC struggling.


http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-...ngs/#week5

Week 5 NCAA Football TV Ratings

Thursday, September 26
1.5 2.31M 7:30 PM Va. Tech Ga. Tech ESPN
0.2 244K 7:30 PM Iowa State Tulsa FS1
0.0 60K 7:30 PM Howard N.C. A&T ESPNU

Friday, September 27
0.6 838K 9:00 PM Utah State San Jose State ESPN
0.2 313K 9:00 PM Mid. Tennessee BYU ESPNU

Saturday, September 28
4.6 7.39M 3:30 PM LSU Georgia CBS
4.0 6.75M 8:00 PM Wisconsin Ohio State ABC
2.6 3.89M 3:30 PM Oklahoma Notre Dame NBC
2.3 4.02M 6:30 PM Mississippi Alabama ESPN
2.2 3.20M 12:00 PM South Carolina UCF ABC
1.9 2.79M 12:00 PM Oklahoma State West Virginia ESPN
1.9 2.92M 3:30 PM Iowa Minnesota ABC
FSU Boston College
1.7 2.76M 7:00 PM Texas A&M Arkansas ESPN2
1.2 1.85M 10:00 PM Stanford Washington State ESPN
1.1 1.82M 7:00 PM Arizona Washington FOX
1.0 1.56M 10:30 PM USC Arizona State ESPN2
0.5 950K 7:00 PM Florida Kentucky ESPNU
0.4 501K 12:00 PM Northern Illinois Purdue ESPN2
0.3 460K 3:30 PM Reverse mirror of ABC window ESPN2
0.3 374K 12:00 PM Miami USF ESPNU
0.2 362K 3:30 PM Wake Forest Clemson ESPNU
0.2 329K 10:15 PM Southern Miss Boise State ESPNU
0.2 263K 12:00 PM SMU TCU FS1
0.1 152K 2:00 PM Navy Western Kentucky ESPNEWS
0.1 129K 5:00 PM* Army La. Tech FS1
0.1 107K 6:15 PM* Army La. Tech FS1

How do you draw conclusion #2 from these numbers? Both games involving Big 12 teams (NBC and ESPN) outdrew ranked Pac 12 teams on Fox in prime time. Okie St./WVU was equal to Iowa/Minnesota. OU/ND outdrew Alabama/Ole Miss. The matchup that drew the best was on national TV and was the only one involving two top 10 teams.

Ratings were really crappy for the TCU-Oklahoma game in east coast prime time on FOX, which somehow got much lower ratings than Washington-Stanford game that started at 10:30 pm ET on ESPN.

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2013/10/...orks-down/

Quote:Meanwhile, FOX continued to struggle mightily with its college football coverage. The net’s TCU/Oklahoma game had a 1.3 overnight, down a whopping 59% from West Virginia/Texas last year (3.2), and tied as the network’s second-lowest overnight ever for a primetime college football game.

Saturday’s top game on cable was the late night Washington/Stanford game, which according to Sports Business Daily earned a 1.9 overnight.

(10-10-2013 10:43 AM)Wedge Wrote:  Ratings were really crappy for the TCU-Oklahoma game in east coast prime time on FOX, which somehow got much lower ratings than Washington-Stanford game that started at 10:30 pm ET on ESPN.

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2013/10/...orks-down/

Quote:Meanwhile, FOX continued to struggle mightily with its college football coverage. The net’s TCU/Oklahoma game had a 1.3 overnight, down a whopping 59% from West Virginia/Texas last year (3.2), and tied as the network’s second-lowest overnight ever for a primetime college football game.

Saturday’s top game on cable was the late night Washington/Stanford game, which according to Sports Business Daily earned a 1.9 overnight.

But up from the 1.1 for the Arizona/Washington Fox game the previous week.

(10-10-2013 10:05 AM)LSUtah Wrote:  2). Based on these comparative ratings, ESPN and FOX appear to have overpaid for Big-12 inventory.
3). ESPN appears to have overpaid for BYU inventory.

You draw those sweeping conclusions about multi-year contracts based on one weekend's results?

(10-10-2013 10:56 AM)bk1714 Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 10:43 AM)Wedge Wrote:  Ratings were really crappy for the TCU-Oklahoma game in east coast prime time on FOX, which somehow got much lower ratings than Washington-Stanford game that started at 10:30 pm ET on ESPN.

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2013/10/...orks-down/

Quote:Meanwhile, FOX continued to struggle mightily with its college football coverage. The net’s TCU/Oklahoma game had a 1.3 overnight, down a whopping 59% from West Virginia/Texas last year (3.2), and tied as the network’s second-lowest overnight ever for a primetime college football game.

Saturday’s top game on cable was the late night Washington/Stanford game, which according to Sports Business Daily earned a 1.9 overnight.

But up from the 1.1 for the Arizona/Washington Fox game the previous week.

And as pointed out in articles in the previous thread, the Pac 12 games were huge drop-offs from the corresponding Big 12 games a year earlier.

(10-10-2013 12:18 PM)bullet Wrote:  And as pointed out in articles in the previous thread, the Pac 12 games were huge drop-offs from the corresponding Big 12 games a year earlier.

Looks like this year's Big 12 games are a huge drop off from the corresponding Big 12 games a year earlier as well.

(10-10-2013 11:01 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 10:05 AM)LSUtah Wrote:  2). Based on these comparative ratings, ESPN and FOX appear to have overpaid for Big-12 inventory.
3). ESPN appears to have overpaid for BYU inventory.

You draw those sweeping conclusions about multi-year contracts based on one weekend's results?

It's the age of immediate gratification, dude. Nobody is willing to wait for trends. They want to prove their point, and grasp at any straw in the wind...

(10-10-2013 01:39 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 11:01 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 10:05 AM)LSUtah Wrote:  2). Based on these comparative ratings, ESPN and FOX appear to have overpaid for Big-12 inventory.
3). ESPN appears to have overpaid for BYU inventory.

You draw those sweeping conclusions about multi-year contracts based on one weekend's results?

It's the age of immediate gratification, dude. Nobody is willing to wait for trends. They want to prove their point, and grasp at any straw in the wind...

While individual schools and conferences clearly have brand value, ratings are largely a function of the rankings of the teams involved. This season, the B12 has not produced a consensus Top 5 or Top 10 school, and their ratings have suffered accordingly. This could turn around quickly if OU or Baylor could establish themselves as legit contenders.

With respect to FOX, it is clearly an ongoing process to get the casual fan used to turning away from ESPN, CBS and NBC. FOX itself made significant strides last year, but FS1 is clearly a long term project, currently more comparable to ESPNU than ESPN. It's more a function of the network than the conferences. However, they would never be a player if they didn't invest in programming.

(10-10-2013 03:13 PM)orangefan Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 01:39 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 11:01 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 10:05 AM)LSUtah Wrote:  2). Based on these comparative ratings, ESPN and FOX appear to have overpaid for Big-12 inventory.
3). ESPN appears to have overpaid for BYU inventory.

You draw those sweeping conclusions about multi-year contracts based on one weekend's results?

It's the age of immediate gratification, dude. Nobody is willing to wait for trends. They want to prove their point, and grasp at any straw in the wind...

While individual schools and conferences clearly have brand value, ratings are largely a function of the rankings of the teams involved. This season, the B12 has not produced a consensus Top 5 or Top 10 school, and their ratings have suffered accordingly. This could turn around quickly if OU or Baylor could establish themselves as legit contenders.

With respect to FOX, it is clearly an ongoing process to get the casual fan used to turning away from ESPN, CBS and NBC. FOX itself made significant strides last year, but FS1 is clearly a long term project, currently more comparable to ESPNU than ESPN. It's more a function of the network than the conferences. However, they would never be a player if they didn't invest in programming.

Fox does seem to be struggling with their prime time games.

As noted above, it looks like the average joe will still turn to ESPN before FS1. It will take a while for FS1 to lure people from the Espn channels.

That said, FS1 isn't even a standard channel here in Greenville. It pisses me off, we have ESPN, ESPN2, and FSN Carolinas. Like why not just throw in FS1?

(10-10-2013 03:58 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 03:13 PM)orangefan Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 01:39 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 11:01 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-10-2013 10:05 AM)LSUtah Wrote:  2). Based on these comparative ratings, ESPN and FOX appear to have overpaid for Big-12 inventory.
3). ESPN appears to have overpaid for BYU inventory.

You draw those sweeping conclusions about multi-year contracts based on one weekend's results?

It's the age of immediate gratification, dude. Nobody is willing to wait for trends. They want to prove their point, and grasp at any straw in the wind...

While individual schools and conferences clearly have brand value, ratings are largely a function of the rankings of the teams involved. This season, the B12 has not produced a consensus Top 5 or Top 10 school, and their ratings have suffered accordingly. This could turn around quickly if OU or Baylor could establish themselves as legit contenders.

With respect to FOX, it is clearly an ongoing process to get the casual fan used to turning away from ESPN, CBS and NBC. FOX itself made significant strides last year, but FS1 is clearly a long term project, currently more comparable to ESPNU than ESPN. It's more a function of the network than the conferences. However, they would never be a player if they didn't invest in programming.

Fox does seem to be struggling with their prime time games.

The biggest problem FOX faces is the fact that the 2 conferences they have locked up are based in the midwest and west coast, which tends to diminish the interest of the audience on the east coast...

If they had an eastern conference to go with it, it wouldn't be a problem. But ESPiN has that locked up for now...

Terrible Thursday night rating for RU and Louisville only 1.65 million and a .6. The GA Tech-Va Tech game two weeks before crushed it.

(10-11-2013 07:22 PM)slowknight Wrote:  Terrible Thursday night rating for RU and Louisville only 1.65 million and a .6. The GA Tech-Va Tech game two weeks before crushed it.

I'm kind of curious to see which one gets a higher rating tonight - the USA-Jamaica World Cup match, or the UC-Temple game...

It should be pretty close IMO...

FS1 should get a nice bump this weekend with Oregon at Washington tomorrow. One of the better games of the weekend.

Charlotte TV ratings last week:

49ers v GWU, WCCB (25,900 viewers); led Navy-Air Force (11,800), WBTV; trailed UNC-Va Tech, WMYT (29,500)