Clemson-Notre Dame set a ratings high for the second time this season, while the SEC Championship Game hit a 14-year low, on a soft championship weekend in college football.
Saturday’s Clemson-Notre Dame ACC Championship Game averaged a Nielsen-estimated 5.5 rating and 9.92 million viewers on ABC, marking the highest rated and second-most watched game of the season. The Tigers’ easy win surpassed the previous season-high rating of 5.4 for the teams’ November meeting on NBC. That game still ranks as the most-watched of the season, pending updates (10.07M).
Ratings increased 129% and viewership 150% from last year’s ACC Championship (Clemson-Virginia: 2.4, 3.97M) to rank as the highest for the game since 2014 (Florida State-Georgia Tech: 6.2, 10.15M).
The game faced less competition than usual in the late afternoon window usually occupied by the SEC. While it had to contend with an NFL game on NFL Network (Bills-Broncos: 2.5, 4.53M) and the Mountain West title game on FOX (San Jose State-Boise State: 0.9, 1.42M), those events combined for less-than-half the audience of last year’s competing Big Ten Championship on FOX (Ohio State-Wisconsin: 7.6, 13.55M).
Shifting to primetime, the Alabama-Florida SEC Championship averaged a 4.9 and 8.92 million on CBS — the lowest rated edition of the game since 2006 (Florida-Arkansas: 4.5) and least-watched since at least 2007. It was the first primetime SEC Championship since that 2006 game. It also aired opposite the NFL (Panthers-Packers: 2.9, 5.61M), significant competition for a game that in most years goes virtually unopposed.
The Crimson Tide’s competitive win declined 38% in ratings and 35% in viewership from last year (LSU-Georgia: 7.9, 13.70M). It ranks fourth for the season behind the two Clemson-Notre Dame game and Georgia-Alabama in October (5.3, 9.61M).
Earlier in the day, the Ohio State-Northwestern Big Ten Championship averaged a 4.65 and 8.03 million on FOX — the lowest rating and viewership for the game since 2014 (Ohio State-Wisconsin: 3.5, 6.13M). Ratings fell 39% and viewership 41% from last year’s previously-noted game, which aired in primetime.
For the season, only five games cracked a 4.0 rating or seven million viewers. That compares to 14 and 12 games respectively last season.
With the Big Ten moving into the Noon ET window, the Big 12 title game suffered the biggest decline of the Power 5 championships. Oklahoma-Iowa State averaged a 1.8 and 2.99 million on ABC, down 67% in ratings and 66% in viewership from last year (Oklahoma-Baylor: 5.5, 8.70M) and the lowest rated and least-watched Big 12 Championship since at least 2000 (game was not played from 2011-16).
Rounding out the Power 5 slate, the Oregon-USC Pac-12 Championship averaged a 2.3 and 3.85 million on FOX Friday night — down 36% and 34% respectively from last year (Oregon-Utah: 3.5, 5.86M) and the least-watched edition of the game in three years (2017 USC-Stanford: 3.66M).
As for the “group of five” games, the previously-mentioned San Jose State-Boise State Mountain West Championship (0.9, 1.42M) posted its highest rating and viewership since 2014 (Fresno State-Boise State: 1.0, 1.53M). Not coincidentally, that was the last time before this year that it aired on broadcast television.
The MAC Championship (Ball State-Buffalo) averaged a 0.49 and 875,000 on ESPN Friday night, its largest audience since 2016 (Western Michigan-Ohio: 1.36M).
The Cincinnati-Tulsa AAC Championship was the top group of five title game with a 1.15 and 1.88 million in ABC’s Saturday Night Football timeslot, but those numbers declined 39% and 35% respectively from last year’s mid-afternoon game (Memphis-Cincinnati: 1.9, 2.88M).
Beyond the title games, ESPN averaged a 1.0 and 1.66 million for Texas A&M-Tennessee Saturday afternoon — up 108% in ratings and 129% in viewership from last year’s Sun Belt Championship in the same window (Appalachian State-Louisiana: 0.48, 726K). None of Big Ten or Pac-12 ‘champions week’ games cracked the million mark, topped by Illinois-Penn State at a a 0.37 and 739,000 on FS1.
The full list of 2020 college football ratings is available here.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 12.22 a, b]
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