via press release:
2009 "SEC ON CBS" SCORES HIGHEST RATING OF ANY COLLEGE FOOTBALL TELEVISION PACKAGE
CBS Sports College Football Season-to-Date Ratings Best in 14 Years
CBS Sports' coverage of the SEC ON CBS for the 2009 season is the highest-rated college football package on any network averaging a national household rating/share of 4.4/10, up 29% from last year's 3.4/8. This 4.4/10 is the highest rating at this point in the season since college football returned to the Network in 1996.
The SEC ON CBS season average of a 4.4/10 topped ABC's season average of 3.9/8 for college football for the first time since 1990.
The season was capped off by the SEC Championship game between No. 1-ranked Florida and No. 2-ranked Alabama on Saturday, Dec. 5 (4:00-7:44 PM, ET), which earned a national household rating/share of 11.1/23, +18% from last year's 9.4/20 for the SEC Championship featuring Florida and Alabama.
The 11.1/23 was the highest rating ever for the SEC Championship game since its debut in 1992.
Go SEC!!! About to keep the National Title for a 4th year in a row!!!
There are a few reasons for this. One: you have CBS focusing on one major college football conference only which is broadcast to all stations across the country, while ABC splits its games among five others, with the Big Ten and Big XII games serving the Midwest markets, the ACC and Big East serving the East Coast markets, and the Pac-10 serving the Western USA. Two: there are tons of really rabid football fans in the South who live and die for SEC football, even preferring it over the NFL in many markets. And three: for the past few seasons, the SEC has produced three college football national champions and has at least three teams ranked in the BCS top ten each year, clearly showing dominance over the other major football conferences.
Bill,
If possible could you tell me what the numbers were for the first game of the season between Boise State & Oregon?
coolbreeze, maybe. What date was it? Was it primetime or daytime? Was it the only college game to be on CBS at the time? Since different college games are often telecast to different parts of the country at the same time, we’d only see the blended ratings.
Bill,
The game was Thursday, September 3 and it was a night game. It was on ESPN (I think) not CBS. It was a national broadcast. I just am curious to see what kind of numbers Boise would draw compared to the SEC.
coolbreeze, 2 ESPN college football telecasts on Thursday, 9/3
7pm Eastern Time start averaged 3.263 million viewers (Live+SD)
10:13pm Eastern Time start averaged 3.855 million viewers (Live+SD)
No mention in my data of the teams for either.
Doesn’t matter the network, when you have a #1 vs. #2 blockbuster college football or basketball game, don’t matter the network, it will be huge. I have a feeling this years Alambama-Texas BCS Championship on the more credible ABC/ESPN will be near a record level than the past couple years on Fox.
Bill,
Thanks for that data, it would have been later game. Just for comparison do you have the numbers of total viewers for the CBS games you previously provided data for?
coolbreeze, sorry, I’m done with research on this topic.
np thanks anyway
William, why is ESPN/ABC ” more credible?” Opinion often masqueardes as fact, but that opinion is the Philly Phanatic masquerading as the Bolshoi Ballet. Tom Delay masquerading as Nureyev? ( Nobody can spell Barishnikov; at least not me, probably.) Even better, credible sports journalism contains two, not just one, self-contradiction (s). But I really just wanted to apologize for taunting the Big Ten a few months ago. The way the Big 12 looked this year, the Big Ten was spectacular by comparison.