(12-07-2021 03:03 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Games with 5 million or more viewers:

Total: 28
By Network: ABC: 10, FOX: 10, CBS 8, ESPN: 1
By TimeSlot: Sat Noon: 10, Sat MidAfternoon: 10, Sat PrimeTime: 7, Not Saturday: 2
By Conference Teams: Big Ten: 12.5, SEC: 10.5, B12: 3, ACC: 1.5, ND: 1, P12: 0.5
By Team: Alabama: 7, Ohio State: 6, Penn State: 5, Georgia: 5, Michigan: 4, Wisconsin: 3, Michigan State: 2, Florida: 2, Notre Dame: 2, Oklahoma: 2, Oklahoma State: 2, Iowa: 2, Auburn: 2

2021 probably taught us that "prime time" doesn't really mean as much as it used to. If the game is good, fans will watch. Of the three Saturday windows, the prime time window had the fewest number of games above 5 million. Of the top ten games, four of them kicked off at 7:30pm or 8pm.

The Big Ten had the most games of 5 million or more viewers. If you counted each team separately, the Big Ten had 25 appearances to 21 for the SEC. The Pac-12 won several time slots but the only game involving a Pac-12 team that had 5 million or more viewers was Oregon/Ohio State. Only two Notre Dame games had 5 million or more viewers and neither were on NBC.

The SEC Championship Game was impressive but Ohio State-Michigan held on for the most watched football game this year so far (if the championship game doesn't top it, that's pretty bad). At the very least the Big Ten was on par with the SEC in terms of ratings. I don't remember seeing a Big Ten Championship Game viewership that high. I thought ratings would be hurt without Ohio State or Wisconsin (I knew without Northwestern they would be better). Of course Michigan has fans too but wow. It also helped having an ACC Championship Game without Clemson and having zero effect on the Playoff. I was also very impressed with the Big 12 Championship Game without either Oklahoma or Texas.

ABC did well given ACC was really down, Big 12 was down, and they were stupid with the Big Ten.

It's going to be really interesting to see when schools like USC and Texas bounce back how things change. Also, ESPN will probably get a whole lot smarter picking things- for one they have a clear cut #1 pick for Big Ten next year- Notre Dame @ Ohio St. You know that will be in prime time. Just that will make a lot of difference.

And when SEC moves to ABC- things will get even more interesting. For one, does CBS try to get the ABC package? If so, Fox won't gain a lot of traction with more good noon games.