I collected all TV viewership data from Sports Media Watch. This includes regular season and bowl games for the past 3 years. The disparity in viewership among P5 college football teams is startling...

School Rated Games "Avg Viewers per Game
(in M)"
Ala 38 7.891
OSU 36 6.955
UGA 38 6.246
LSU 33 5.879
Clem 38 5.483
OU 39 5.164
Mich 33 5.393
Aub 30 4.770
ND 38 3.969
Wisc 31 4.231
PSU 32 4.117
Tex 33 3.526
UF 29 3.644
TAM 27 3.029
Wash 32 2.670
Ore 26 2.929
USC 34 2.543
MSU 30 2.702
Mia 31 2.612
Tenn 18 3.144
FSU 27 2.403
UK 11 3.069
SC 17 2.779
Iowa 30 2.171
MsSt 27 2.291
OkSt 35 1.922
WVU 33 1.790
VT 23 2.194
Neb 22 2.228
TCU 34 1.682
NW 27 1.984
Stan 26 1.996
Ind 18 2.261
WSU 23 2.003
UCF 28 1.753
Bylr 29 1.687
Lou 19 2.128
Ark 13 2.385
ISU 31 1.558
UVA 17 2.109
Pitt 19 2.002
UCLA 26 1.662
Uta 27 1.610
Minn 23 1.757
Miss 19 1.912
Mem 24 1.685
TTU 30 1.368
Miz 16 1.943
Syr 16 1.869
Pur 22 1.590
ASU 18 1.750
MD 19 1.646
KSt 29 1.165
GT 14 1.821
NCSt 20 1.532
VU 10 1.935
WF 16 1.582
BYU 24 1.183
Cin 17 1.484
Col 18 1.435
Cal 23 1.185
BSU 29 0.910
BC 15 1.520
Hou 21 1.149
AZ 22 1.099
USF 18 1.275
UNC 17 1.297
Duke 15 1.250
Ill 13 1.285
KU 18 0.831
Rutg 6 1.293
OrSt 10 0.962
SDSU 11 0.775
NM 7 0.547
Uconn 10 0.319
UNLV 5 0.272

Folks love to watch SEC teams...Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Auburn have been a bonanza for the TV networks over the past 3 years. Based on this viewership data, SEC should be getting a 20% to 25% premium over BIG TV. The BIG is clearly the #2 conference for TV viewership. The B12 and ACC are fighting for a distant 3rd place...ACC has an advantage in average viewership per game; but the B12 has substantially more exposure per team.

TV-wise, there are a lot of teams that need to step-up their games. For example, Oregon State provides the least TV value to its conference...few games and very low rated. It's also baffling why the BIG brought in Rutgers.

ACC
B1G
BXII
PAC
SEC
AAC
MW
IND

Ala 38 7.891
OSU 36 6.955
UGA 38 6.246
LSU 33 5.879
Clem 38 5.483
OU 39 5.164
Mich 33 5.393
Aub 30 4.770
ND 38 3.969
Wisc 31 4.231
PSU 32 4.117
Tex 33 3.526
UF 29 3.644
TAM 27 3.029
Wash 32 2.670
Ore 26 2.929
USC 34 2.543
MSU 30 2.702
Mia 31 2.612
Tenn 18 3.144
FSU 27 2.403
UK 11 3.069
SC 17 2.779
Iowa 30 2.171
MsSt 27 2.291
OkSt 35 1.922
WVU 33 1.790
VT 23 2.194
Neb 22 2.228
TCU 34 1.682
NW 27 1.984
Stan 26 1.996
Ind 18 2.261
WSU 23 2.003
UCF 28 1.753
Bylr 29 1.687
Lou 19 2.128
Ark 13 2.385
ISU 31 1.558
UVA 17 2.109
Pitt 19 2.002
UCLA 26 1.662
Uta 27 1.610
Minn 23 1.757
Miss 19 1.912
Mem 24 1.685
TTU 30 1.368
Miz 16 1.943
Syr 16 1.869
Pur 22 1.590
ASU 18 1.750
MD 19 1.646
KSt 29 1.165
GT 14 1.821
NCSt 20 1.532
VU 10 1.935
WF 16 1.582
BYU 24 1.183
Cin 17 1.484
Col 18 1.435
Cal 23 1.185
BSU 29 0.910
BC 15 1.520
Hou 21 1.149
AZ 22 1.099
USF 18 1.275
UNC 17 1.297
Duke 15 1.250
Ill 13 1.285
KU 18 0.831
Rutg 6 1.293
OrSt 10 0.962
SDSU 11 0.775
NM 7 0.547
Uconn 10 0.319
UNLV 5 0.272

Formatting in this forum is difficult...here is another try


School Rated Games "Avg Viewers per Game(in M)"
Ala 38 7.891
OSU 36 6.955
UGA 38 6.246
LSU 33 5.879
Clem 38 5.483
OU 39 5.164
Mich 33 5.393
Aub 30 4.770
ND 38 3.969
Wisc 31 4.231
PSU 32 4.117
Tex 33 3.526
UF 29 3.644
TAM 27 3.029
Wash 32 2.670
Ore 26 2.929
USC 34 2.543
MSU 30 2.702
Mia 31 2.612
Tenn 18 3.144
FSU 27 2.403
UK 11 3.069
SC 17 2.779
Iowa 30 2.171
MsSt 27 2.291
OkSt 35 1.922
WVU 33 1.790
VT 23 2.194
Neb 22 2.228
TCU 34 1.682
NW 27 1.984
Stan 26 1.996
Ind 18 2.261
WSU 23 2.003
UCF 28 1.753
Bylr 29 1.687
Lou 19 2.128
Ark 13 2.385
ISU 31 1.558
UVA 17 2.109
Pitt 19 2.002
UCLA 26 1.662
Uta 27 1.610
Minn 23 1.757
Miss 19 1.912
Mem 24 1.685
TTU 30 1.368
Miz 16 1.943
Syr 16 1.869
Pur 22 1.590
ASU 18 1.750
MD 19 1.646
KSt 29 1.165
GT 14 1.821
NCSt 20 1.532
VU 10 1.935
WF 16 1.582
BYU 24 1.183
Cin 17 1.484
Col 18 1.435
Cal 23 1.185
BSU 29 0.910
BC 15 1.520
Hou 21 1.149
AZ 22 1.099
USF 18 1.275
UNC 17 1.297
Duke 15 1.250
Ill 13 1.285
KU 18 0.831
Rutg 6 1.293
OrSt 10 0.962
SDSU 11 0.775
NM 7 0.547
Uconn 10 0.319
UNLV 5 0.272

Is there a reason the averages are out of order (Mich should be ahead of Okl, Wisc and PSU should be ahead of ND).

This proves the Big 12 really is Oklahoma, Texas, and the Little 8. Of course the ACC is Clemson and everyone else although six other ACC teams averaged over 2 million viewers and only UO and UT averaged over 2M from the Big 12.

How did Wazzu get over 2M?

ND is also not in the Top 10 of viewers per game.

No longer are they the biggest draw of all FB programs around.

Once you get under a 2.5-3.0 rating, most of the difference can be explained by the station the game showed up on and the opposition the team played(for instance, a game relegated to ESPN U will garner much lower ratings than a game on ESPN/ESPN2 simply because those channels are in more households. Also, Houston playing Oklahoma draws more eyeballs than say Houston vs. Tulsa).

There are basically about 20-25 programs that do a little better than everyone else, and an elite group of 7-8 schools that basically get the very best ratings.

(04-15-2020 04:14 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Is there a reason the averages are out of order (Mich should be ahead of Okl, Wisc and PSU should be ahead of ND).

This proves the Big 12 really is Oklahoma, Texas, and the Little 8. Of course the ACC is Clemson and everyone else although six other ACC teams averaged over 2 million viewers and only UO and UT averaged over 2M from the Big 12.

How did Wazzu get over 2M?

Schmolik
I ranked the schools in order of “TV value”...a combination of # of rated games (@ 30%) and average viewership (@ 70%).

Wazzu has a number of good TV games, especially in the 2018 season. The Bowl game against ISU (@ 5.55M), the Week 13 Apple cup (@ 4.11M) and against the Ducks on week 8 (@ 2.59M viewers)

Slow day.

Take these 76 and go down to 75 (assuming Connecticut's program falls away from this list; if not, Notre Dame goes independent and Connecticut fills into their spot).

3x25:

PAC
North: Washington, Washington St, Oregon, Oregon St, Boise St
West: California, Stanford, USC, UCLA, San Diego St
Central: Arizona, Arizona St, UNLV, Utah, BYU
East: Colorado, Kansas, Kansas St, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St
South: New Mexico, Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor

B1G
West: Nebraska, Iowa, Iowa St, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Central: Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan St
North: Michigan, Ohio St, Penn St, Maryland, Virginia
East: Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Boston College
South: North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Miami

SEC
West: Texas A&M, Houston, LSU, Arkansas, Missouri
Central: Memphis, Mississippi, Mississippi St, Alabama, Auburn
North: Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
South: Georgia, Florida, Florida St, Central Florida, South Florida
East: West Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina St, South Carolina, Clemson

(04-15-2020 04:17 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  ND is also not in the Top 10 of viewers per game.

No longer are they the biggest draw of all FB programs around.

I believe that ND is a top 10 program (#9 in my ranking of the past 3 years). Regardless of who ND plays, their games are being rated. Schools like the Badgers and Nittany Lions may get to hide a few games per year on the BTN.

(04-15-2020 04:41 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  

(04-15-2020 04:14 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Is there a reason the averages are out of order (Mich should be ahead of Okl, Wisc and PSU should be ahead of ND).

This proves the Big 12 really is Oklahoma, Texas, and the Little 8. Of course the ACC is Clemson and everyone else although six other ACC teams averaged over 2 million viewers and only UO and UT averaged over 2M from the Big 12.

How did Wazzu get over 2M?

Schmolik
I ranked the schools in order of “TV value”...a combination of # of rated games (@ 30%) and average viewership (@ 70%).

Wazzu has a number of good TV games, especially in the 2018 season. The Bowl game against ISU (@ 5.55M), the Week 13 Apple cup (@ 4.11M) and against the Ducks on week 8 (@ 2.59M viewers)

Also, as you pointed out in your earlier post, there are different amounts of exposure. WSU doesn't have many games, so what would be its lower rated games are on the Pac 12 network and unrated. While schools like Oklahoma St., WVU and TCU have 33-35 games, more than Florida (29), Tennessee (18), WSU (23), FSU (27), Penn St. (32).

Maybe I just missed it, but where's Navy? I count 17 games at 2.44M avg. viewers.

(04-15-2020 05:14 PM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  Maybe I just missed it, but where's Navy? I count 17 games at 2.44M avg. viewers.

I didn’t calculate every FBS program. I only calculated the P5 teams and a few others.

Okay, gotcha. I skimmed the post highlighted by conference and was trying to find Navy cuz I know there are a top G5 draw. SMU and Temple also draw more than UCONN so that threw me off, but I get it now.

(04-15-2020 04:59 PM)bullet Wrote:  Also, as you pointed out in your earlier post, there are different amounts of exposure. WSU doesn't have many games, so what would be its lower rated games are on the Pac 12 network and unrated. While schools like Oklahoma St., WVU and TCU have 33-35 games, more than Florida (29), Tennessee (18), WSU (23), FSU (27), Penn St. (32).

This is the flip side of the B12 TV agreements. Only one or two games for each B12 school end up in Tier 3, or LHN/Fox PPV/ESPN+. ESPN and Fox are paying for a lot of inventory, and as a result show some games with little demand. Therefore, there are some pretty bad B12 matchups that end up on a channel like FS1 and get a rating. These are matchups that would be on a conference network elsewhere and not get a rating, but in the B12, get a (low) rating due to the B12's distribution pathways.

Since most B12 games are on networks that get a rating, there will be a higher number of games per team and a lower rating. Sure, there's still not as much national demand for the non-OU/Texas B12 teams, but the average per team ratings make it look worse than it actually is.

(04-15-2020 03:29 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Folks love to watch SEC teams...Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Auburn have been a bonanza for the TV networks over the past 3 years. Based on this viewership data, SEC should be getting a 20% to 25% premium over BIG TV. The BIG is clearly the #2 conference for TV viewership. The B12 and ACC are fighting for a distant 3rd place...ACC has an advantage in average viewership per game; but the B12 has substantially more exposure per team.

TV-wise, there are a lot of teams that need to step-up their games. For example, Oregon State provides the least TV value to its conference...few games and very low rated. It's also baffling why the BIG brought in Rutgers.

The New Jersey mafia is stronger than any of us knew.

A lot of those numbers don't even really surprise me. We southerners love our football, plain and simple, and we try to take care of our players too, although sometimes, we do mess up. What does surprise me is why doesn't Virginia Tech have more viewers??? It's a very good school, rabid fanbase, why hasn't Virginia Tech not gotten Lane Stadium to at least 72,000 capacity, if not 80,000 capacity?? I believe the Homies could do it and fill it too.
I know all about UVa's very high academic requirements, but VT doesn't have that problem. Why not exploit it and become the team for the state of Virginia, like the Dawgs are for the state of Georgia???

(04-15-2020 08:58 PM)johnintx Wrote:  

(04-15-2020 04:59 PM)bullet Wrote:  Also, as you pointed out in your earlier post, there are different amounts of exposure. WSU doesn't have many games, so what would be its lower rated games are on the Pac 12 network and unrated. While schools like Oklahoma St., WVU and TCU have 33-35 games, more than Florida (29), Tennessee (18), WSU (23), FSU (27), Penn St. (32).

This is the flip side of the B12 TV agreements. Only one or two games for each B12 school end up in Tier 3, or LHN/Fox PPV/ESPN+. ESPN and Fox are paying for a lot of inventory, and as a result show some games with little demand. Therefore, there are some pretty bad B12 matchups that end up on a channel like FS1 and get a rating. These are matchups that would be on a conference network elsewhere and not get a rating, but in the B12, get a (low) rating due to the B12's distribution pathways.

Since most B12 games are on networks that get a rating, there will be a higher number of games per team and a lower rating. Sure, there's still not as much national demand for the non-OU/Texas B12 teams, but the average per team ratings make it look worse than it actually is.

B12 teams averaged 10.4 rated games per season...SEC and BIG were around 8 rated games per team per season...ACC was at 7 games.

With a 10 team conference, it’s harder to hide the bad teams. KU did get less exposure than other B12 teams...but more rated games than Rutgers, Indiana, Ark and Vandy.

The higher exposure (on a ‘games per team’ basis) for the B12 probably balances for the extra 300k viewers per game that the ACC achieves. Fox/B12 is not as selective as ESPN/ACC.

(04-15-2020 08:58 PM)johnintx Wrote:  

(04-15-2020 04:59 PM)bullet Wrote:  Also, as you pointed out in your earlier post, there are different amounts of exposure. WSU doesn't have many games, so what would be its lower rated games are on the Pac 12 network and unrated. While schools like Oklahoma St., WVU and TCU have 33-35 games, more than Florida (29), Tennessee (18), WSU (23), FSU (27), Penn St. (32).

This is the flip side of the B12 TV agreements. Only one or two games for each B12 school end up in Tier 3, or LHN/Fox PPV/ESPN+. ESPN and Fox are paying for a lot of inventory, and as a result show some games with little demand. Therefore, there are some pretty bad B12 matchups that end up on a channel like FS1 and get a rating. These are matchups that would be on a conference network elsewhere and not get a rating, but in the B12, get a (low) rating due to the B12's distribution pathways.

Since most B12 games are on networks that get a rating, there will be a higher number of games per team and a lower rating. Sure, there's still not as much national demand for the non-OU/Texas B12 teams, but the average per team ratings make it look worse than it actually is.

Other thing to consider is the five P5's probably have similar packages and similar number of games on the ratings networks. I believe the Big Ten has an advantage that they have FOX and ABC for OTA opportunities and many weeks both networks air a game plus ESPN airs a game (I've even seen some weeks one of ABC or FOX air two games). By contrast, the only chance the SEC gets on OTA is CBS and there are only 2-3 weeks they get 2 games although many weeks ESPN airs two SEC games. But the Big Ten, ACC, and SEC have a larger inventory of games compared to the Big 12. The Big Ten and SEC has plenty of top notch teams for the OTA networks and ESPN so schools like Illinois and Kentucky only get on these networks when they play the big boys. Even the ACC has a strong "middle class" which will get opportunities. But in the Big 12, someone's got to play on FOX/ABC/ESPN. There's only one Oklahoma/Texas game a year. I counted 8 Big 12 games that aired on ESPN. One of them featured Texas (vs. Kansas State 11/9). NONE of them featured Oklahoma because every Oklahoma regular season game aired either on ABC, FOX, or the one game Oklahoma retained their broadcasting rights. So imagine ESPN's other seven games and we haven't even gotten to FS1 or ESPN2 yet.

http://mattsarzsports.com/Contract/GameL...pg788hKiM8

(04-16-2020 06:22 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(04-15-2020 08:58 PM)johnintx Wrote:  

(04-15-2020 04:59 PM)bullet Wrote:  Also, as you pointed out in your earlier post, there are different amounts of exposure. WSU doesn't have many games, so what would be its lower rated games are on the Pac 12 network and unrated. While schools like Oklahoma St., WVU and TCU have 33-35 games, more than Florida (29), Tennessee (18), WSU (23), FSU (27), Penn St. (32).

This is the flip side of the B12 TV agreements. Only one or two games for each B12 school end up in Tier 3, or LHN/Fox PPV/ESPN+. ESPN and Fox are paying for a lot of inventory, and as a result show some games with little demand. Therefore, there are some pretty bad B12 matchups that end up on a channel like FS1 and get a rating. These are matchups that would be on a conference network elsewhere and not get a rating, but in the B12, get a (low) rating due to the B12's distribution pathways.

Since most B12 games are on networks that get a rating, there will be a higher number of games per team and a lower rating. Sure, there's still not as much national demand for the non-OU/Texas B12 teams, but the average per team ratings make it look worse than it actually is.

Other thing to consider is the five P5's probably have similar packages and similar number of games on the ratings networks. I believe the Big Ten has an advantage that they have FOX and ABC for OTA opportunities and many weeks both networks air a game plus ESPN airs a game (I've even seen some weeks one of ABC or FOX air two games). By contrast, the only chance the SEC gets on OTA is CBS and there are only 2-3 weeks they get 2 games although many weeks ESPN airs two SEC games. But the Big Ten, ACC, and SEC have a larger inventory of games compared to the Big 12. The Big Ten and SEC has plenty of top notch teams for the OTA networks and ESPN so schools like Illinois and Kentucky only get on these networks when they play the big boys. Even the ACC has a strong "middle class" which will get opportunities. But in the Big 12, someone's got to play on FOX/ABC/ESPN. There's only one Oklahoma/Texas game a year. I counted 8 Big 12 games that aired on ESPN. One of them featured Texas (vs. Kansas State 11/9). NONE of them featured Oklahoma because every Oklahoma regular season game aired either on ABC, FOX, or the one game Oklahoma retained their broadcasting rights. So imagine ESPN's other seven games and we haven't even gotten to FS1 or ESPN2 yet.

http://mattsarzsports.com/Contract/GameL...pg788hKiM8

After the top 20-25 valuable programs, there is no "middle class." There's who's hot that year and who isn't. The SEC and B1G have a disproportionate share of that top 20-25. ACC, Big 12 and Pac 12 do not.