(01-06-2022 08:28 AM)Milwaukee Wrote: (12-15-2021 10:44 PM)slhNavy91 Wrote: One more post here to add to historical threads.
This is a thing I've tracked for several years, the number of games by non-contract-bowl-conference with 3, 2, and 1 million viewers. Kind of got trumped by the very good article this year on the "4 Million Club." But this is what I have compiled since around 2017:
Since you have been tracking these trends over years, you're one of the few who knows whether the gap between the AAC and the P5 conferences has been getting smaller over time,
and if it has been getting smaller - - how much smaller?
In other words, was the AAC's viewership only 20% of a measure of the average P5 conference's viewership X years ago, and it now more like 30% of that measure?
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Only asking this if it doesn't require more than a few minutes of your time.
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Another, similar question pertains not to the AAC but to all non-P5 teams.
Has viewership only improved for the AAC, or has it also improved for the non-P5 schools as a whole, with some improvement for viewership of the other conferences in addition to the increase in AAC viewership?
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Just ballpark estimates would be very interesting - something you could do on a scrap piece of paper in a few minutes would be great. thanks.
Bottom line up front: I would say the AAC's viewership numbers have been pretty consistent relative to the autonomy conferences over the last handful of years -- 30-40% of the bottom of the autonomy conferences and 15% of the top two. And all the primary media rights contracts are similarly proportionate.
2021 AAC viewership of conference controlled inventory was
28.7% of Big12
39.9% of Pac12
38.0% of ACC
16.5% of SEC
12.6% of Big10
2018 AAC viewership of conference controlled inventory was
28.4% of Big12
43.5% of Pac12
37.9% of ACC
16.7% of SEC
19% of Big10
There are ups and downs (e.g. ACC was huge in 2020 with ND games added including two monsters) but those are all pretty consistent with averages over that time.
2018 is as far back as I have all 10 conferences compiled. I thought I had 2017 or 2016 as well - maybe in old posts then the back of the envelope never saved as spreadsheet. I have AAC in detail back to 2015 (and the counts of 3-million, 2-million, 1-million games for AAC and G4s), though and it's pretty consistent:
2021 25,952,000
2020 21,294,000
2019 28,612,000
2018 28,648,000
2017 21,894,000
2016 27,284,000
2015 32,505,000
The variability is all explainable -- 2020 COVID year, 2015 Temple had great numbers for hosting Notre Dame AND Penn State and those two games account for the number above the mean, etc.
Same applies looking downward.
2021 mwc was 27.6% of the AAC and 2018 was 20%
2021 SBC was 22.5% of the AAC and 2018 was 3.5%
2021 MAC was 14% of the AAC and 2018 was 10.5%
2021 Sun Belt jump - they now have 15 games on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU instead of, like 3 in the past. I would say we're still comfortably ahead with our 40 games on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU and we won't slip much with realignment.
Omitted CUSA because their deals have been so bad.