- ESPN Delivers Network’s Top Saturday Overnight of the Season; Two of Top 3.
- Clemson at Florida State is Best Overnight of Week 9 Across All Networks
- Michigan at Michigan State Becomes a Top 10 Streamed Regular Season Game Ever for ESPN
- Streaming Growth Continues: All Six Game Windows on ESPN and ABC Were Up Significantly in Major Digital Metrics Year Over Year
College football fans tuned to ABC and ESPN on all platforms in week 9. On TV, the two networks aired the top two overnights across all networks – ABC’s Saturday Night Football Clemson at Florida State at 8 p.m. ET (3.6 overnight) and Michigan at Michigan State on ESPN at noon (3.1 overnight) – and combined to televise six of the top seven college football overnights across all networks. The Wolverines-Spartans stream had an average minute audience of 140,000 viewers and total of 32,017,000 minutes watched, a top 10 streamed regular season college football game ever for ESPN. The new top 10 game represents a continuing trend: streaming numbers for ESPN/ABC’s college football games continue to grow. This week all six game windows on ESPN and ABC saw significant year over year growth in major digital metrics year over year.
Big Ten Tripleheader Delivers on ESPN
On ESPN, Michigan at Michigan State’s overnight is the network’s best Saturday overnight of the 2016 season. Also, with Northwestern at Ohio State earning a 2.5 overnight, ESPN earned its two best Saturday overnights since opening weekend and two of the top 3 Saturday overnights in the 2016 season. Additional highlights from ESPN’s Big Ten Tripleheader:
Michigan at Michigan State (Noon ET):
- 3.1 overnight is ESPN’s second best overnight overall this season, trailing only Ole Miss vs. Florida State in prime time on Labor Day night (Sept. 5).
- The overnight is up 19% from the same TV window last season (Ole Miss at Auburn).
- The stream of 140,000 average minute viewers and total of 32,017,000 minutes watched were up 98% and 110% year over year to the Rebels-Tigers matchup.
- Detroit earned a 22.9 local rating, the market’s second highest rating for a regular season game on ESPN. The complete top 10 markets:
| Rank | Market | Rating |
| 1 | Detroit | 22.9 |
| 2 | Columbus | 11.6 |
| 3 | Dayton | 8.3 |
| 4 | Birmingham | 7.4 |
| 5 | Jacksonville | 5.0 |
| 6 | Cleveland | 4.9 |
| 7 | Ft. Myers | 4.8 |
| 8 | Tampa | 4.7 |
| 9 | Cincinnati | 4.2 |
| 10 | West Palm Beach | 4.2 |
Northwestern at Ohio State (3:30 p.m.):
- 2.5 overnight, ESPN’s fourth best overnight overall of the 2016 season.
- The overnight was up 39% year-over-year to same TV window (Oklahoma State at Texas Tech); Streaming audience of 79,000 average minute audience up 86% to same Cowboys-Red Raiders matchup.
ESPN’s Top Overnights of the 2016 Season
| Rank | Overnight | Game | Date | Time (ET) |
| 1 | 5.3 | Ole Miss vs. Florida State | Monday, Sept. 5 | 8 p.m. |
| 2 | 3.1 | Michigan at Michigan State | Saturday, Oct. 29 | Noon |
| 3 | 2.8 | Clemson at Auburn | Saturday, Sept. 3 | 9 p.m. |
| 4 | 2.5 | Northwestern at Ohio State | Saturday, Oct. 29 | 3:30 p.m. |
Wisconsin at Nebraska (7 p.m.):
- 2.1 overnight in competitive prime time window across the sports landscape
- Streaming audience of 101,000 average minute audience and a total of 419,000 unique viewers watching 20,661,000 minutes is up 199%, 110%, 172%, respectively, year over year (Michigan at Minnesota).
ABC Delivers Throughout Week 9
On ABC, in addition to Saturday Night Football earning the best overnight of week 9 across all networks, the streaming audience was up 118%, 89%, and 162%, respectively, in average minute audience, total unique viewers and total minutes watched to last season’s week 9 SNF game (Notre Dame at Temple). Additionally, network’s other two time slots also saw strong overnights and year-over-year increases in both TV and streaming.
ABC’s regional action (Louisville at Virginia or Penn State at Purdue at noon):
- 2.1 overnight, up 18% from last year’s same TV slot (Syracuse at Florida State).
- Streaming audience was up 128%, 224%, and 144%, respectively, in average minute audience, total unique users, and minutes watched to last season’s Orange-Seminoles game.
Baylor at Texas (3:30 p.m.)
- 2.4 overnight, up 4% year over year (regional action: Maryland at Iowa or Clemson at NC State).
- Streaming audience was up 22%, 36%, and 39%, respectively, in average minute audience, total unique users, and minutes watched to last season’s regional action
Please note: Streaming information is preliminary; final numbers will be available later in the week.
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