https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/11...-espn-cbs/

"After years of the SEC on CBS and ABC’s Saturday Night Football staking a claim as college football’s premier window, FOX “Big Noon Saturday” may well have its own argument.

FOX said this week that its “Big Noon Saturday” window is averaging more viewers (5.20M) than any other college football telecast. The latest edition, Ohio State-Nebraska last weekend, was the most-watched game of week ten with a 3.0 rating and 5.33 million viewers — giving “Big Noon” its second-straight weekly victory and its fourth in ten weeks this season."

Big Ten Cheerleader's Note:
The four weeks that the Big Nooner was the most watched game of the week?
Oregon at Ohio State, 9/11
Notre Dame vs Wisconsin at Chicago, 9/25
Michigan at Michigan State, 10/30
Ohio State at Nebraska, 11/6

All four of those games were "hosted" by a Big 10 team and were part of the Big Ten broadcasting package.

"Ranking second for the weekend, ESPN drew a 2.8 and 5.00 million for LSU-Alabama — the most-watched regular season college football game on cable since 2019 (LSU-Florida: 3.6, 6.61M)"

"The third and fourth-place games aired head-to-head. ABC took third with a 2.5 and 4.40 million for Purdue’s midday upset of Michigan State" "CBS placed fourth with a 2.2 and 3.76 million for Auburn-Texas A&M, down big from both last year and 2019, with the caveat that the network aired the Georgia-Florida rivalry game both years."

Big Ten Cheerleader's Note:
This is why I hate the comparison from previous years if the games aren't the same. You can't compare Auburn-Texas A&M to Georgia-Florida. Of course Georgia-Florida is going to outdraw it. But the Big Ten beat the SEC on CBS with Michigan State-Purdue???? It's one thing if Ohio State, Michigan, or Penn State beat the SEC on CBS but Michigan State-Purdue beat them?

Near the bottom of the OTA barrel:

"NBC pulled a 1.1 and 1.86 million for Navy-Notre Dame, marking its least-watched Notre Dame game since the 2019 finale against Boston College (1.66M). FOX drew a 1.0 (flat) and 1.81 million (-6%) for Baylor-TCU. CBS brought up the rear with a mere 0.9 and 1.44 million for Army-Air Force."

So a Top 10 team is drawing less than 2 million viewers for a game in November? Tell me again why they deserve their own contract with a major broadcast network? They got .05 million viewers more than Baylor/TCU! They got less than half of the viewers of a team in their own state playing at the same time (Purdue)! Hey NBC, dump Notre Dame and give the Big Ten a call! We'll give you 4 million for Michigan State-Purdue! Hey, one more bidder and it drives up the price.

Actually 1.44M for Army/Air Force isn't that bad for the MWC. Air Force/Navy on 9/11 barely cracked 1 million viewers (1.076M). Boise State/Utah State on 9/25 didn't even make 1 million (804 THOUSAND). That same week, Akron/Ohio State had over 1 million viewers on BIG TEN NETWORK. Army/Air Force had more viewers than Utah/USC on FOX (1.376M, 10/9).

From the SMW season rankings page (https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college...v-ratings/)

These are the games that were the most watched in each Saturday "window" (early, middle, prime time).

9/4: Penn State-Wisconsin (FOX), Alabama-Miami (ABC), Georgia-Clemson (ABC)
9/11: Oregon-Ohio State (FOX), Texas A&M-Colorado (FOX), Washington-Michigan (ABC)
9/18: Nebraska-Oklahoma (FOX), Alabama-Florida (CBS), Auburn-Penn State (ABC)
9/25: Notre Dame-Wisconsin (FOX), Texas A&M-Arkansas (CBS), West Virginia-Oklahoma (ANC)
10/2: Michigan-Wisconsin (FOX), Mississippi-Alabama (CBS), Indiana-Penn State (ABC)
10/9: Oklahoma-Texas (ABC), Penn State-Iowa (FOX), Alabama-Texas A&M (CBS)
10/16: Oklahoma State-Texas (FOX), Kentucky-Georgia (CBS), Alabama-Mississippi State (ES{N)
10/23: Illinois-Penn State (ABC), Oregon-UCLA (ABC), Tennessee-Alabama (ESPN)
10/30: Michigan-Michigan State (FOX), Georgia-Florida (CBS), Penn State-Ohio State (ABC)
11/6: Ohio State-Nebraska (FOX), Michigan State-Purdue (ABC), LSU-Alabama (ESPN)

By Network (Early/Middle/Prime)
ABC: 11 (2/3/6)
FOX: 10 (8/2/0)
CBS: 6 (0/5/1)
ESPN: 3 (0/0/3)
NBC: ZERO

FOX:

By Conference, Each Team counts separately so a conference game is two for the conference, a non conference game is one for each conference (Early/Middle/Prime):
Big Ten: 23 (13/4/6)
SEC: 22 (0/12/10)
Big 12: 7 (5/0/2)
Pac 12: 5 (1/3/1)
ACC: 2 (0/1/1)
ND: 1 (1/0/0)

In the SMW update this week, they said FOX's “Big Noon Saturday” window is averaging more viewers (5.20M) than any other college football telecast. Clearly they are dominating the early window, having won it 8 out of 10 times this season. ABC's SNF, supposed to be the premiere time slot, is just 6 of 10 in its window. The SEC on CBS started on 9/18 (it didn't compete the first two weeks), so it is "batting" just 5 out of 8.

Ironically, three times out of the ten times ABC lost it lost to its broadcast partner ESPN. Not coincidentally the three times ESPN beat ABC SNF (and the only times ESPN won a time slot all season) were with SEC games and all three of them featured Alabama. In fact the Alabama game has won its time slot SEVEN times this season out of nine games total. The only two times they didn't were the two times they appeared on SECN. The Crimson Tide isn't undefeated on the field but for all practical purposes they're undefeated in the TV ratings. If any single school deserves their own TV contract with NBC, it's Alabama.

Meanwhile, of the 22 times the SEC won the time slot this year, 13 involved Alabama (one was Miami). Counting the prime time game on CBS and not counting the early SEC game (since that game was the fourth choice after ESPN was allowed to choose two games ahead of them), CBS won 6 of the 9 games when it had the "pick of the litter" of the SEC, limited by the fact that they could only have Alabama five times all season and they know they wanted the Iron Bowl. If you throw out the three Alabama games, CBS is batting .500 in SEC games this year. On Oct. 9, Georgia/Auburn lost to a Penn State/Iowa game that featured two undefeated teams. That seems reasonable. Michigan State was undefeated and came off a huge win over Michigan and MSU/UM was the most watched game of the season but MSU/Pur over Aub/A&M seems like an upset to me and I'm a Big 10 guy. Oct. 23 was the ultimate low point in SEC on CBS ratings history. They lost the time slot to ... the Pac-12. 3.109M is probably one of the lowest Saturday 3:30pm ratings on SEC on CBS history. To put it in perspective, not one SEC on CBS game last year in the pandemic year had fewer viewers than that. If CBS could take Alabama every week they'd clean up over everybody. But if Florida and LSU are down, maybe the SEC isn't as strong ratings wise as we think they are.

Every Big 12 game that won its time slot featured Oklahoma or Texas and one of their victories was Oklahoma State-Texas which got just 3.129M viewers. No one really "won" that slot.

Meanwhile, Oregon is literally saving the Pac-12 this year, not only in the Playoff but in the ratings:
Oregon-UCLA (10/23, ABC, 3:30): 3.845M (Won time slot)
Oregon-Washington (11/6, ABC, 7:30): 2.726M
Colorado-Oregon (10/30, FOX, 3:30): 2.673M
Oregon-Stanford (10/2, ABC, 3:30): 2.641M
USC-Washington State (9/18, FOX, 3:30): 1.583M
UCLA-Washington (10/16, FOX, 8:30): 1.532M
Stanford-USC (9/11, FOX, 11:56): 1.441M
Utah-USC (10/9, FOX, 8): 1.376M

ABC got really lucky to have gotten three of the four network quality Oregon conference games this season. FOX got stuck with four duds. If these games are any indication, FOX will have little interest in bidding for the Pac 12 in the future. At least ESPN can always use late night content on ESPN.

(11-12-2021 08:26 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Every Big 12 game that won its time slot featured Oklahoma or Texas and one of their victories was Oklahoma State-Texas which got just 3.129M viewers. No one really "won" that slot.

Meanwhile, Oregon is literally saving the Pac-12 this year, not only in the Playoff but in the ratings:
Oregon-UCLA (10/23, ABC, 3:30): 3.845M (Won time slot)
Oregon-Washington (11/6, ABC, 7:30): 2.726M
Colorado-Oregon (10/30, FOX, 3:30): 2.673M
Oregon-Stanford (10/2, ABC, 3:30): 2.641M
USC-Washington State (9/18, FOX, 3:30): 1.583M
UCLA-Washington (10/16, FOX, 8:30): 1.532M
Stanford-USC (9/11, FOX, 11:56): 1.441M
Utah-USC (10/9, FOX, 8): 1.376M

ABC got really lucky to have gotten three of the four network quality Oregon conference games this season. FOX got stuck with four duds. If these games are any indication, FOX will have little interest in bidding for the Pac 12 in the future. At least ESPN can always use late night content on ESPN.

As you pointed out, a big problem for the Big 12 after Oklahoma and Texas leave will be the eyeballs. Which team or teams can give the conference what Oklahoma and Texas did for so many years?

FOX Sports headquarters are in Los Angeles and they are not going to let the Pac-12 go. The Pac-12 has always done well with non-conference scheduling with power conference schools, which helps the ratings. LSU at UCLA on FOX did well as did the Texas A&M game at Colorado game, which Colorado should have won. Since they don't have the SEC or ACC, and the Big 12 does not look as attractive without Oklahoma and Texas, holding on to the Big 10 and Pac-12 becomes that much more important.

SMW Ratings Article: https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/11...ight-week/

"The Big Ten topped the college football ratings charts for a third-straight week.

Last Saturday’s Michigan-Penn State college football game averaged a 3.45 rating and 5.94 million viewers on ABC, marking the highest rated and most-watched game of week eleven. It was the third-straight week that a Big Ten game topped the charts, following a run of four straight weeks in which the SEC took top honors. "

The score for the season is 6 games involving an SEC team and 5 games involving a Big Ten team.
Top Games of Week:
SEC: 9/4 (Ga/Clem), 9/18 (Ala/Fla), 10/2 (Miss/Ala), 10/9 (Ala/A&M), 10/16 (Ky/Ga), 10/23 (Tenn/Ala)
Big 10: 9/11 (Ore/OSU), 9/25 (ND/Wisc), 10/30 (Mich/MSU), 11/6 (OSU/Neb), 11/13 (Mich/PSU)

The next two weeks have MSU/OSU and OSU/Mich. Ala/Aub is also there but Michigan is ranked higher than Michigan. I'm guessing Michigan State/Ohio State wins the week so Ohio State/Michigan vs. the Iron Bowl is for the regular season title.

"Ranking second for the weekend, Georgia-Tennessee averaged a 3.25 and 5.78 million on the SEC on CBS. "
"Georgia has now played in three of the top five CBS windows this season, though it could not crack the top two (Alabama-Texas A&M: 4.5, 8.33M; Alabama-Florida: 4.15, 7.86M)."

"Returning to Big Ten action, Purdue-Ohio State ranked third for the week with a 2.6 and 4.74 million on ABC "

I thought Pur/OSU had a chance to beat Ga/Tenn but the SEC won. 4.74 million is still a pretty big number and still beat Oklahoma/Baylor ("3.72 million").

"Elsewhere in primetime, Notre Dame-Virginia drew a 1.8 and 3.28 million on ABC’s Saturday Night Football "

Not good. Notre Dame couldn't even beat Texas A&M/Mississippi on ESPN ("3.53 million").

The Big Ten won the noon slot while the SEC won the mid afternoon and prime time slots. The SEC moves ahead by one, 25 teams to 24 teams.

Among the 25 times an SEC team won its time slot, not surprisingly Alabama was one of the teams 7 times. Georgia and Texas A&M were 4 times each, Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee 2 times each. In the Big Ten, the surprising leader in time slot victories is Penn State with 7. Michigan has 4 time slot victories, Ohio State and Wisconsin have 3 each, Michigan State and Nebraska have 2 each. It is worth noting that a Thursday night Ohio State-Minnesota game got over 6 million viewers and isn't included since it wasn't a Saturday game. Oklahoma won its time slot 3 times, Texas and Oregon twice each.

ABC won the noon slot, CBS the mid afternoon, ESPN the prime time slot. That gives ABC 12 time slot victories, CBS 7, and ESPN 4 (FOX still has 10).

TV Ratings from Week 12:
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college...v-ratings/

Arkansas-Alabama (CBS, 3:30): 5.464M
Michigan State-Ohio State (ABC, 12:00): 5.287M
Oregon-Utah (ABC, 7:30): 4.818M
Nebraska-Wisconsin (ABC, 3:30): 3.534M
Iowa State-Oklahoma (FOX, 12:00): 3.103M
Auburn-South Carolina (ESPN, 7:00): 2.033M
Oklahoma State-Texas Tech (FOX, 8:00): 1.911M
UCLA-USC (FOX, 4:00): 1.836M
Wake Forest-Clemson (ESPN, 12:00) 1.553M
Georgia Tech-Notre Dame (NBC, 2:30): 1.455M

ABC and Alabama won the week. The Oregon-Utah game was the most watched Pac-12 regular season game in seven years.

UCLA-USC (FOX, 4:00): 1.836M
Wake Forest-Clemson (ESPN, 12:00) 1.553M
Georgia Tech-Notre Dame (NBC, 2:30): 1.455M

Amazing at the lack of viewers for these games.
UCLA - USC is a long traditional rivalry in a good time slot.
Wake - Clemson Clemson is a marquee name over the last few years and Wake is having a great year
GT - ND You would think ND would draw more by them self while having a good year. Also in a prime timeslot

Here's a challenge for Cincinnati today. Win your time slot. Your competition today is an irrelevant SEC game that has no business being on CBS and a Pac 12 game featuring a 4-7 team. If you finish a distant third to Missouri/Arkansas and Colorado/Utah, then it shows why the AAC should be 2nd tier to the Power conferences at least in terms of media rights. But I hope you win the ratings battle. If I had to choose one game, I'd rather watch Cincinnati.

(11-26-2021 08:23 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Here's a challenge for Cincinnati today. Win your time slot. Your competition today is an irrelevant SEC game that has no business being on CBS and a Pac 12 game featuring a 4-7 team. If you finish a distant third to Missouri/Arkansas and Colorado/Utah, then it shows why the Big XII should be 2nd tier to the Power conferences at least in terms of media rights. But I hope you win the ratings battle. If I had to choose one game, I'd rather watch Cincinnati.

Fixed it for ya.

I was thinking about why ABC isn't airing a noon game today. It's because they are airing NHL hockey. I'll be curious to see if they get better ratings for that than they would have for college football. FOX has six losses in a row (including Kansas) Texas and CBS has MWC football. If ABC beats them both with NHL hockey it will be embarrassing. Why can't any decent games be played on Black Friday? I'm more interested in seeing Wilkes University play than any game on today.

(11-26-2021 12:18 PM)schmolik Wrote:  I was thinking about why ABC isn't airing a noon game today. It's because they are airing NHL hockey. I'll be curious to see if they get better ratings for that than they would have for college football. FOX has six losses in a row (including Kansas) Texas and CBS has MWC football. If ABC beats them both with NHL hockey it will be embarrassing. Why can't any decent games be played on Black Friday? I'm more interested in seeing Wilkes University play than any game on today.

There really aren't that many good games at all this weekend. Only 2 ranked vs ranked all weekend.

(11-26-2021 12:25 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(11-26-2021 12:18 PM)schmolik Wrote:  I was thinking about why ABC isn't airing a noon game today. It's because they are airing NHL hockey. I'll be curious to see if they get better ratings for that than they would have for college football. FOX has six losses in a row (including Kansas) Texas and CBS has MWC football. If ABC beats them both with NHL hockey it will be embarrassing. Why can't any decent games be played on Black Friday? I'm more interested in seeing Wilkes University play than any game on today.

There really aren't that many good games at all this weekend. Only 2 ranked vs ranked all weekend.

But at least people want to watch Ohio State, Alabama, Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan, Georgia, etc. on Saturday.

Last week's SMW summary (Delayed, I assume, because of Thanksgiving):
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/11...game-week/

"Alabama-Arkansas topped last weekend’s college football slate with a 3.2 rating and 5.46 million viewers on CBS". " CBS has topped the charts in five of 12 weeks this season, more than any other network.* An SEC intra-conference game has topped the charts in six weeks, and an SEC team has played in the top game seven times."

I counted last week it was six for the SEC and five for the Big Ten so the SEC made it seven.

"Ranking second last weekend was the much-hyped, top ten matchup of Michigan State-Ohio State. The Buckeyes’ easy win drew a 3.05 and 5.29 million on ABC"

I was disappointed in the ratings for this game considering it had two top ten teams. But what do you expect from a 56-7 blowout? Even I lost interest in the game after the first half.

"ABC also took third and fourth-place. Oregon-Utah drew a 2.6 and 4.82 million on Saturday Night Football, the largest audience for a regular season Pac-12 intra-conference game since 2014. "

I was shocked at this one, especially since this game was a blowout. Oregon had been getting far higher numbers than Pac-12 level numbers all season, especially on ABC. I'm curious to see what Oregon State-Oregon draws today although being on ESPN will hurt (or will it)? Also, Oregon is now out of the Playoff hunt (their high Playoff rating most likely contributed to their high viewership all season). They were probably the Clemson in 2021 and the Pac-12 took the place of the ACC in terms of TV viewership. But don't think the entire Pac 12 is drawing huge numbers: ". UCLA-USC followed immediately after with a 1.0 (-11%) and 1.84 million". They were dominated in their time slot by Arkansas-Alabama and Nebraska-Wisconsin "3.53 million".

Finally...

"In other action on broadcast, NBC drew a mere 0.8 and 1.46 million for Georgia Tech-Notre Dame — the lowest rated Notre Dame game ever on the NBC broadcast network. The previous low was a 1.0 for multiple games."

This is a Notre Dame team that has one loss and is currently ranked #6 in the CFP. They finished FOURTH in their time slot. "Finally, Big Ten Network scored its top audience of the season — 1.24 million — for regional coverage of Michigan-Maryland and Minnesota-Indiana." Notre Dame got .22 million (220 THOUSAND more viewers on NBC than the Big Ten on BTN (ND was a 2:30pm game, the BTN window was 3:30pm). "Wake Forest-Clemson ranked second among cable games with a 0.9 (+74%) and 1.55 million ". (WF-Clem was a noon game). If a #6 ranked Notre Dame is getting this viewership, what would a mediocre Notre Dame get. Think Georgia Tech was the problem? Let's see how many viewers Georgia-Georgia Tech on ABC today gets and they're going against Ohio State-Michigan.

No way Notre Dame deserves their own contract with NBC and hopefully NBC comes to their senses and drops them like a bad habit. You think the new Big 12 doesn't deserve a nice TV contract? They deserve one more than Notre Dame does ("the Oklahoma State-Texas Tech nightcap at a 1.1 (+63%) and 1.91 million (+67%).")

(11-27-2021 06:59 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Last week's SMW summary (Delayed, I assume, because of Thanksgiving):
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/11...game-week/

"Alabama-Arkansas topped last weekend’s college football slate with a 3.2 rating and 5.46 million viewers on CBS". " CBS has topped the charts in five of 12 weeks this season, more than any other network.* An SEC intra-conference game has topped the charts in six weeks, and an SEC team has played in the top game seven times."

I counted last week it was six for the SEC and five for the Big Ten so the SEC made it seven.

"Ranking second last weekend was the much-hyped, top ten matchup of Michigan State-Ohio State. The Buckeyes’ easy win drew a 3.05 and 5.29 million on ABC"

I was disappointed in the ratings for this game considering it had two top ten teams. But what do you expect from a 56-7 blowout? Even I lost interest in the game after the first half.

"ABC also took third and fourth-place. Oregon-Utah drew a 2.6 and 4.82 million on Saturday Night Football, the largest audience for a regular season Pac-12 intra-conference game since 2014. "

I was shocked at this one, especially since this game was a blowout. Oregon had been getting far higher numbers than Pac-12 level numbers all season, especially on ABC. I'm curious to see what Oregon State-Oregon draws today although being on ESPN will hurt (or will it)? Also, Oregon is now out of the Playoff hunt (their high Playoff rating most likely contributed to their high viewership all season). They were probably the Clemson in 2021 and the Pac-12 took the place of the ACC in terms of TV viewership. But don't think the entire Pac 12 is drawing huge numbers: ". UCLA-USC followed immediately after with a 1.0 (-11%) and 1.84 million". They were dominated in their time slot by Arkansas-Alabama and Nebraska-Wisconsin "3.53 million".

Finally...

"In other action on broadcast, NBC drew a mere 0.8 and 1.46 million for Georgia Tech-Notre Dame — the lowest rated Notre Dame game ever on the NBC broadcast network. The previous low was a 1.0 for multiple games."

This is a Notre Dame team that has one loss and is currently ranked #6 in the CFP. They finished FOURTH in their time slot. "Finally, Big Ten Network scored its top audience of the season — 1.24 million — for regional coverage of Michigan-Maryland and Minnesota-Indiana." Notre Dame got .22 million (220 THOUSAND more viewers on NBC than the Big Ten on BTN (ND was a 2:30pm game, the BTN window was 3:30pm). "Wake Forest-Clemson ranked second among cable games with a 0.9 (+74%) and 1.55 million ". (WF-Clem was a noon game). If a #6 ranked Notre Dame is getting this viewership, what would a mediocre Notre Dame get. Think Georgia Tech was the problem? Let's see how many viewers Georgia-Georgia Tech on ABC today gets and they're going against Ohio State-Michigan.

No way Notre Dame deserves their own contract with NBC and hopefully NBC comes to their senses and drops them like a bad habit. You think the new Big 12 doesn't deserve a nice TV contract? They deserve one more than Notre Dame does ("the Oklahoma State-Texas Tech nightcap at a 1.1 (+63%) and 1.91 million (+67%).")

Except the Notre Dame contract cost NBC I'm not exactly sure but 15-20-25 million.
At that number yes NBC is interested in the big 12 package

(11-27-2021 06:59 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Last week's SMW summary (Delayed, I assume, because of Thanksgiving):
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/11...game-week/

"Alabama-Arkansas topped last weekend’s college football slate with a 3.2 rating and 5.46 million viewers on CBS". " CBS has topped the charts in five of 12 weeks this season, more than any other network.* An SEC intra-conference game has topped the charts in six weeks, and an SEC team has played in the top game seven times."

I counted last week it was six for the SEC and five for the Big Ten so the SEC made it seven.

"Ranking second last weekend was the much-hyped, top ten matchup of Michigan State-Ohio State. The Buckeyes’ easy win drew a 3.05 and 5.29 million on ABC"

I was disappointed in the ratings for this game considering it had two top ten teams. But what do you expect from a 56-7 blowout? Even I lost interest in the game after the first half.

"ABC also took third and fourth-place. Oregon-Utah drew a 2.6 and 4.82 million on Saturday Night Football, the largest audience for a regular season Pac-12 intra-conference game since 2014. "

I was shocked at this one, especially since this game was a blowout. Oregon had been getting far higher numbers than Pac-12 level numbers all season, especially on ABC. I'm curious to see what Oregon State-Oregon draws today although being on ESPN will hurt (or will it)? Also, Oregon is now out of the Playoff hunt (their high Playoff rating most likely contributed to their high viewership all season). They were probably the Clemson in 2021 and the Pac-12 took the place of the ACC in terms of TV viewership. But don't think the entire Pac 12 is drawing huge numbers: ". UCLA-USC followed immediately after with a 1.0 (-11%) and 1.84 million". They were dominated in their time slot by Arkansas-Alabama and Nebraska-Wisconsin "3.53 million".

Finally...

"In other action on broadcast, NBC drew a mere 0.8 and 1.46 million for Georgia Tech-Notre Dame — the lowest rated Notre Dame game ever on the NBC broadcast network. The previous low was a 1.0 for multiple games."

This is a Notre Dame team that has one loss and is currently ranked #6 in the CFP. They finished FOURTH in their time slot. "Finally, Big Ten Network scored its top audience of the season — 1.24 million — for regional coverage of Michigan-Maryland and Minnesota-Indiana." Notre Dame got .22 million (220 THOUSAND more viewers on NBC than the Big Ten on BTN (ND was a 2:30pm game, the BTN window was 3:30pm). "Wake Forest-Clemson ranked second among cable games with a 0.9 (+74%) and 1.55 million ". (WF-Clem was a noon game). If a #6 ranked Notre Dame is getting this viewership, what would a mediocre Notre Dame get. Think Georgia Tech was the problem? Let's see how many viewers Georgia-Georgia Tech on ABC today gets and they're going against Ohio State-Michigan.

No way Notre Dame deserves their own contract with NBC and hopefully NBC comes to their senses and drops them like a bad habit. You think the new Big 12 doesn't deserve a nice TV contract? They deserve one more than Notre Dame does ("the Oklahoma State-Texas Tech nightcap at a 1.1 (+63%) and 1.91 million (+67%).")

About the bolded parts:

1) I know the Ohio State game was a blowout, but I am stunned that Alabama-Arkansas beat Ohio State-Michigan State.

That is pretty amazing to me. SEC power, baby, LOL.

2) You can't look at ratings for one ND game vs a bad team to make sweeping claims, IMO.

This article says that from 2015-2019, Notre Dame TV audience size ranked 4th in college football, behind only Ohio State, Alabama and Michigan. And the media companies are paying the B1G and SEC about $45 million per school for their media, which is for all the schools, not just the cream of the crop like Alabama and Ohio State. In contrast, among the "new" Big 12 teams, the highest-viewed team is #19, with less than half of Notre Dame's audience.

So if Notre Dame is making just $25m from NBC, I'd say NBC has one of the biggest bargains in all of sports with that deal.

https://medium.com/run-it-back-with-zach...c03c689e50

(11-27-2021 08:46 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-27-2021 06:59 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Last week's SMW summary (Delayed, I assume, because of Thanksgiving):
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/11...game-week/

"Alabama-Arkansas topped last weekend’s college football slate with a 3.2 rating and 5.46 million viewers on CBS". " CBS has topped the charts in five of 12 weeks this season, more than any other network.* An SEC intra-conference game has topped the charts in six weeks, and an SEC team has played in the top game seven times."

I counted last week it was six for the SEC and five for the Big Ten so the SEC made it seven.

"Ranking second last weekend was the much-hyped, top ten matchup of Michigan State-Ohio State. The Buckeyes’ easy win drew a 3.05 and 5.29 million on ABC"

I was disappointed in the ratings for this game considering it had two top ten teams. But what do you expect from a 56-7 blowout? Even I lost interest in the game after the first half.

"ABC also took third and fourth-place. Oregon-Utah drew a 2.6 and 4.82 million on Saturday Night Football, the largest audience for a regular season Pac-12 intra-conference game since 2014. "

I was shocked at this one, especially since this game was a blowout. Oregon had been getting far higher numbers than Pac-12 level numbers all season, especially on ABC. I'm curious to see what Oregon State-Oregon draws today although being on ESPN will hurt (or will it)? Also, Oregon is now out of the Playoff hunt (their high Playoff rating most likely contributed to their high viewership all season). They were probably the Clemson in 2021 and the Pac-12 took the place of the ACC in terms of TV viewership. But don't think the entire Pac 12 is drawing huge numbers: ". UCLA-USC followed immediately after with a 1.0 (-11%) and 1.84 million". They were dominated in their time slot by Arkansas-Alabama and Nebraska-Wisconsin "3.53 million".

Finally...

"In other action on broadcast, NBC drew a mere 0.8 and 1.46 million for Georgia Tech-Notre Dame — the lowest rated Notre Dame game ever on the NBC broadcast network. The previous low was a 1.0 for multiple games."

This is a Notre Dame team that has one loss and is currently ranked #6 in the CFP. They finished FOURTH in their time slot. "Finally, Big Ten Network scored its top audience of the season — 1.24 million — for regional coverage of Michigan-Maryland and Minnesota-Indiana." Notre Dame got .22 million (220 THOUSAND more viewers on NBC than the Big Ten on BTN (ND was a 2:30pm game, the BTN window was 3:30pm). "Wake Forest-Clemson ranked second among cable games with a 0.9 (+74%) and 1.55 million ". (WF-Clem was a noon game). If a #6 ranked Notre Dame is getting this viewership, what would a mediocre Notre Dame get. Think Georgia Tech was the problem? Let's see how many viewers Georgia-Georgia Tech on ABC today gets and they're going against Ohio State-Michigan.

No way Notre Dame deserves their own contract with NBC and hopefully NBC comes to their senses and drops them like a bad habit. You think the new Big 12 doesn't deserve a nice TV contract? They deserve one more than Notre Dame does ("the Oklahoma State-Texas Tech nightcap at a 1.1 (+63%) and 1.91 million (+67%).")

About the bolded parts:

1) I know the Ohio State game was a blowout, but I am stunned that Alabama-Arkansas beat Ohio State-Michigan State.

That is pretty amazing to me. SEC power, baby, LOL.

2) You can't look at ratings for one ND game vs a bad team to make sweeping claims, IMO.

This article says that from 2015-2019, Notre Dame TV audience size ranked 4th in college football, behind only Ohio State, Alabama and Michigan. And the media companies are paying the B1G and SEC about $45 million per school for their media, which is for all the schools, not just the cream of the crop like Alabama and Ohio State. In contrast, among the "new" Big 12 teams, the highest-viewed team is #19, with less than half of Notre Dame's audience.

So if Notre Dame is making just $25m from NBC, I'd say NBC has one of the biggest bargains in all of sports with that deal.

https://medium.com/run-it-back-with-zach...c03c689e50

NBC has a good deal and knows it.

It would have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars per year to get the Big 12, for instance, versus the alleged $22-23 million it currently pays ND.

NBC also has low (and fixed) production costs, given that they are in the same location at least 5 or 6 Saturdays per season.

See the ratings from last year (Clemson in particular) and know that NBC is aware that home games against Ohio State, Clemson, Texas A&M and others like those are on ND schedules in the next few years.

https://fbschedules.com/ncaa/notre-dame/#


It will renew the ND deal around 2023 for more money than it pays now, despite what people like Schmolik and people like him hope, wish and root for.

By the way, the bolded numbers below posted by Schmolik earlier this year, while not NBC games, sort of goes against his narrative a bit:

Michigan at Michigan State, 10/30, noon, FOX, 9.289M
Georgia vs. Clemson at Charlotte, 9/4, 7:30pm, ABC, 8.863M
Alabama at Texas A&M, 10/9, 8pm, CBS, 8.334M
Alabama at Florida, 9/18, 3:30pm, CBS, 7.863M
Notre Dame at Florida State, 9/5 (Sun), 7:30pm, ABC, 7.751M
Oregon at Ohio State, 9/11, noon, FOX, 7.730M
Auburn at Penn State, 9/18. 7:30pm, ABC, 7.606M
Penn State at Ohio State, 10/30, 7:30pm, ABC, 7.051M
Penn State at Iowa, 10/9, 4pm, FOX, 6.904M
Kentucky at Georgia, 10/16, 3:30pm, CBS, 6.369M
Ohio State at Minnesota, 9/2 (Thur), 8pm, FOX, 6.295M
Georgia vs. Florida at Jacksonville, 10/30, 3:30pm, CBS, 6.120M
Michigan at Penn State, 11/13, noon, ABC, 5.942M
Oklahoma vs. Texas at Dallas, 10/9, noon, ABC, 5.940M
Georgia at Tennessee, 11/13, 3:30pm, CBS, 5.781M
Alabama vs. Miami at Atlanta, 9/4, 3:30pm, ABC, 5.674M
Arkansas at Alabama, 11/20, 3:30pm, CBS, 5.464M
Penn State at Wisconsin, 9/4, noon, FOX, 5.409M
Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin at Chicago, 9/25, noon, FOX, 5.369M
Ohio State at Nebraska, noon, FOX, 5.328M
Michigan State at Ohio State, noon, ABC, 5.287M
LSU at Alabama, 7pm, ESPN, 5.000M


NBC and ND have a 30 year (and counting) relationship. Both sides are happy with the arrangement.

P.S. I read similar talk on message boards about "low" ND/NBC ratings and how NBC was going to drop ND back in 2011 and back in 2001.

It didn't happen then. It won't happen now.

(11-27-2021 06:59 AM)schmolik Wrote:  "In other action on broadcast, NBC drew a mere 0.8 and 1.46 million for Georgia Tech-Notre Dame — the lowest rated Notre Dame game ever on the NBC broadcast network. The previous low was a 1.0 for multiple games."

This is a Notre Dame team that has one loss and is currently ranked #6 in the CFP. They finished FOURTH in their time slot. "Finally, Big Ten Network scored its top audience of the season — 1.24 million — for regional coverage of Michigan-Maryland and Minnesota-Indiana." Notre Dame got .22 million (220 THOUSAND more viewers on NBC than the Big Ten on BTN (ND was a 2:30pm game, the BTN window was 3:30pm). "Wake Forest-Clemson ranked second among cable games with a 0.9 (+74%) and 1.55 million ". (WF-Clem was a noon game). If a #6 ranked Notre Dame is getting this viewership, what would a mediocre Notre Dame get. Think Georgia Tech was the problem? Let's see how many viewers Georgia-Georgia Tech on ABC today gets and they're going against Ohio State-Michigan.

No way Notre Dame deserves their own contract with NBC and hopefully NBC comes to their senses and drops them like a bad habit. You think the new Big 12 doesn't deserve a nice TV contract? They deserve one more than Notre Dame does ("the Oklahoma State-Texas Tech nightcap at a 1.1 (+63%) and 1.91 million (+67%).")

Notre Dame is solid gold. The networks love them and they add value to any TV contract. Notre Dame at Stanford tonight is on FOX as part of the Pac-12 TV deal. No one is tuning in to watch Stanford football this season. With USC and Stanford, the Pac-12 can count on a late November nationally televised network game every year. Notre Dame at Virginia two weeks ago was on ABC as part of the ACC TV deal. The ACC can count on at least two games on ABC because of their relationship with Notre Dame. In 2022, Notre Dame vs Navy in Baltimore is an ABC or ESPN game as part of the AAC TV deal. That annual game with Navy will be on ABC or ESPN every other year. I really can't see NBC ever letting them go.

Final Time Slot Analysis:

9/4: Penn State-Wisconsin (FOX), Alabama-Miami (ABC), Georgia-Clemson (ABC)
9/11: Oregon-Ohio State (FOX), Texas A&M-Colorado (FOX), Washington-Michigan (ABC)
9/18: Nebraska-Oklahoma (FOX), Alabama-Florida (CBS), Auburn-Penn State (ABC)
9/25: Notre Dame-Wisconsin (FOX), Texas A&M-Arkansas (CBS), West Virginia-Oklahoma (ABC)
10/2: Michigan-Wisconsin (FOX), Mississippi-Alabama (CBS), Indiana-Penn State (ABC)
10/9: Oklahoma-Texas (ABC), Penn State-Iowa (FOX), Alabama-Texas A&M (CBS)
10/16: Oklahoma State-Texas (FOX), Kentucky-Georgia (CBS), Alabama-Mississippi State (ESPN)
10/23: Illinois-Penn State (ABC), Oregon-UCLA (ABC), Tennessee-Alabama (ESPN)
10/30: Michigan-Michigan State (FOX), Georgia-Florida (CBS), Penn State-Ohio State (ABC)
11/6: Ohio State-Nebraska (FOX), Michigan State-Purdue (ABC), LSU-Alabama (ESPN)
11/13: Michigan-Penn State (ABC), Georgia-Tennessee (CBS), Texas A&M-Mississippi (ESPN)
11/20: Michigan State-Ohio State (ABC), Arkansas-Alabama (CBS), Oregon-Utah (ABC)
11/27: Ohio State/Michigan (FOX), Alabama/Auburn (CBS), Oklahoma/Oklahoma State (ABC)

By Network (Early/Middle/Prime)
ABC: 15 (4/3/8)
FOX: 10 (9/2/0)
CBS: 6 (0/8/1)
ESPN: 3 (0/0/4)
NBC: ZERO

By Conference, Each Team counts separately so a conference game is two for the conference, a non conference game is one for each conference (Early/Middle/Prime):
SEC: 30 (0/18/12)
Big Ten: 29 (19/4/6)
Big 12: 9 (5/0/4)
Pac 12: 7 (1/3/3)
ACC: 2 (0/1/1)
ND: 1 (1/0/0)

Of FOX's 11 wins, 1 team was a Pac 12 (Colo), 1 team was an SEC (A&M), 3 teams were Big 12 (Okl, OkSt, Tex), and the other 17 were Big 10.

Of ABC's 15 wins, 14 Big Ten teams, 6 Big 12 teams, 5 Pac 12 teams, 3 SEC teams, 2 ACC teams. The Big 10 had almost half of the representation. 9 of the 15 games were hosted by a Big Ten team and 7 of the 15 games were Big Ten conference games.

The Alabama game won its time slot 9 times including 3 times when they were on ESPN. Penn State is next with 7. Michigan and Ohio State tied with 5 times each. Georgia, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma won their time slot 4 times each.

Dear FOX, CBS, ESPN/ABC,

In the words of Jerry Maguire, SHOW US THE MONEY!

(12-01-2021 03:12 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Final Time Slot Analysis:

9/4: Penn State-Wisconsin (FOX), Alabama-Miami (ABC), Georgia-Clemson (ABC)
9/11: Oregon-Ohio State (FOX), Texas A&M-Colorado (FOX), Washington-Michigan (ABC)
9/18: Nebraska-Oklahoma (FOX), Alabama-Florida (CBS), Auburn-Penn State (ABC)
9/25: Notre Dame-Wisconsin (FOX), Texas A&M-Arkansas (CBS), West Virginia-Oklahoma (ABC)
10/2: Michigan-Wisconsin (FOX), Mississippi-Alabama (CBS), Indiana-Penn State (ABC)
10/9: Oklahoma-Texas (ABC), Penn State-Iowa (FOX), Alabama-Texas A&M (CBS)
10/16: Oklahoma State-Texas (FOX), Kentucky-Georgia (CBS), Alabama-Mississippi State (ESPN)
10/23: Illinois-Penn State (ABC), Oregon-UCLA (ABC), Tennessee-Alabama (ESPN)
10/30: Michigan-Michigan State (FOX), Georgia-Florida (CBS), Penn State-Ohio State (ABC)
11/6: Ohio State-Nebraska (FOX), Michigan State-Purdue (ABC), LSU-Alabama (ESPN)
11/13: Michigan-Penn State (ABC), Georgia-Tennessee (CBS), Texas A&M-Mississippi (ESPN)
11/20: Michigan State-Ohio State (ABC), Arkansas-Alabama (CBS), Oregon-Utah (ABC)
11/27: Ohio State/Michigan (FOX), Alabama/Auburn (CBS), Oklahoma/Oklahoma State (ABC)

By Network (Early/Middle/Prime)
ABC: 15 (4/3/8)
FOX: 10 (9/2/0)
CBS: 6 (0/8/1)
ESPN: 3 (0/0/4)
NBC: ZERO

By Conference, Each Team counts separately so a conference game is two for the conference, a non conference game is one for each conference (Early/Middle/Prime):
SEC: 30 (0/18/12)
Big Ten: 29 (19/4/6)
Big 12: 9 (5/0/4)
Pac 12: 7 (1/3/3)
ACC: 2 (0/1/1)
ND: 1 (1/0/0)

Of FOX's 11 wins, 1 team was a Pac 12 (Colo), 1 team was an SEC (A&M), 3 teams were Big 12 (Okl, OkSt, Tex), and the other 17 were Big 10.

Of ABC's 15 wins, 14 Big Ten teams, 6 Big 12 teams, 5 Pac 12 teams, 3 SEC teams, 2 ACC teams. The Big 10 had almost half of the representation. 9 of the 15 games were hosted by a Big Ten team and 7 of the 15 games were Big Ten conference games.

The Alabama game won its time slot 9 times including 3 times when they were on ESPN. Penn State is next with 7. Michigan and Ohio State tied with 5 times each. Georgia, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma won their time slot 4 times each.

Look at all those B1G games - and usually leading the pack. B1G should get the best TV contract because it brings in the viewers.

(12-01-2021 03:58 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(12-01-2021 03:12 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Final Time Slot Analysis:

9/4: Penn State-Wisconsin (FOX), Alabama-Miami (ABC), Georgia-Clemson (ABC)
9/11: Oregon-Ohio State (FOX), Texas A&M-Colorado (FOX), Washington-Michigan (ABC)
9/18: Nebraska-Oklahoma (FOX), Alabama-Florida (CBS), Auburn-Penn State (ABC)
9/25: Notre Dame-Wisconsin (FOX), Texas A&M-Arkansas (CBS), West Virginia-Oklahoma (ABC)
10/2: Michigan-Wisconsin (FOX), Mississippi-Alabama (CBS), Indiana-Penn State (ABC)
10/9: Oklahoma-Texas (ABC), Penn State-Iowa (FOX), Alabama-Texas A&M (CBS)
10/16: Oklahoma State-Texas (FOX), Kentucky-Georgia (CBS), Alabama-Mississippi State (ESPN)
10/23: Illinois-Penn State (ABC), Oregon-UCLA (ABC), Tennessee-Alabama (ESPN)
10/30: Michigan-Michigan State (FOX), Georgia-Florida (CBS), Penn State-Ohio State (ABC)
11/6: Ohio State-Nebraska (FOX), Michigan State-Purdue (ABC), LSU-Alabama (ESPN)
11/13: Michigan-Penn State (ABC), Georgia-Tennessee (CBS), Texas A&M-Mississippi (ESPN)
11/20: Michigan State-Ohio State (ABC), Arkansas-Alabama (CBS), Oregon-Utah (ABC)
11/27: Ohio State/Michigan (FOX), Alabama/Auburn (CBS), Oklahoma/Oklahoma State (ABC)

By Network (Early/Middle/Prime)
ABC: 15 (4/3/8)
FOX: 10 (9/2/0)
CBS: 6 (0/8/1)
ESPN: 3 (0/0/4)
NBC: ZERO

By Conference, Each Team counts separately so a conference game is two for the conference, a non conference game is one for each conference (Early/Middle/Prime):
SEC: 30 (0/18/12)
Big Ten: 29 (19/4/6)
Big 12: 9 (5/0/4)
Pac 12: 7 (1/3/3)
ACC: 2 (0/1/1)
ND: 1 (1/0/0)

Of FOX's 11 wins, 1 team was a Pac 12 (Colo), 1 team was an SEC (A&M), 3 teams were Big 12 (Okl, OkSt, Tex), and the other 17 were Big 10.

Of ABC's 15 wins, 14 Big Ten teams, 6 Big 12 teams, 5 Pac 12 teams, 3 SEC teams, 2 ACC teams. The Big 10 had almost half of the representation. 9 of the 15 games were hosted by a Big Ten team and 7 of the 15 games were Big Ten conference games.

The Alabama game won its time slot 9 times including 3 times when they were on ESPN. Penn State is next with 7. Michigan and Ohio State tied with 5 times each. Georgia, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma won their time slot 4 times each.

Look at all those B1G games - and usually leading the pack. B1G should get the best TV contract because it brings in the viewers.

SEC plus Oklahoma plus Texas in a down year beat Big Ten by 6.