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[11/11/18 - 08:14 AM]
College Football Week 11: ABC and ESPN Air Two Top-Rated Games in Prime-Time
ESPN spins the numbers for Saturday, November 10.

[via press release from ESPN]

College Football Week 11: ABC and ESPN Air Two Top-Rated Games in Prime-Time; Bedlam Delivers Sport's Highest Peak Rating and Sets Local Rating Multi-Year Highs

· ABC/ESPN Air Highest-Rated Prime-Time Game for Ninth Time this Season

· Oklahoma State-Oklahoma Peaks at Impressive 5.1 Rating in Game's Final Minutes

· ESPN and ESPN2 Air Cable's Nine Highest-Rated Games

ABC and ESPN aired college football's two highest-rated prime-time games in week 11, continuing a season-long trend of leading the way in the coveted Saturday night timeslot. The prime-time success capped a week which also saw ABC's telecast of the annual Bedlam game featuring Oklahoma State-Oklahoma increase its national rating year-over-year and set multi-year highs in local Oklahoma markets and ESPN/ESPN2 combine to air the nine highest-rated cable games.

ABC's Saturday Night Football Delivers Sport's Highest-Rated Primetime Game; ESPN Tops Two Broadcast Networks in Same Timeslot

ABC's Saturday Night Football featuring Clemson at Boston College (8 p.m. ET) was college football's highest-rated prime-time game in week 11, followed by ESPN's telecast of Auburn at Georgia (7 p.m.). Now, 11 weeks into the season, ABC or ESPN has aired the sport's highest-rated prime-time game in nine of those weeks and the two networks have combined to air the two highest-rated primetime games in multiple weeks.

In week 11, ABC topped the broadcast competition by 18% and 44% respectively, while notably, ESPN also topped the same two broadcast networks by 5% and 28%. The Tigers' victory on ABC delivered a 2.6 rating, while the Bulldogs' win on ESPN earned a 2.3 rating.

Oklahoma State-Oklahoma Up Big Year-Over-Year; Late Drama Earns Highest Peak Rating in the Sport

Oklahoma State at Oklahoma's annual Bedlam matchup (3:30 p.m.) resulted in ABC increasing its own audience by 36% from the same game window last year (Iowa at Wisconsin) and delivered a 76% increase from last year's Bedlam game which aired on a competitor's network. The down-to-the-wire Sooners' victory finished with a 3.0 overnight and earned the sport's highest peak audience of week 11 on any network. The rating jumped to a 5.1 overnight when the Cowboys' scored a touchdown with one minute to go in the fourth quarter, but failed to convert a two point conversion which would have given them the lead (7:15 - 7:30 p.m. ET).

Oklahoma City and Tulsa Markets Earn Multi-Year Rating Highs

Oklahoma City and Tulsa were the two highest-rated markets for Bedlam, with both delivering multi-year highs for regular season college football games on ESPN networks:

· Oklahoma City finished with a 34.7 local rating, the market's best since 2013 on an ESPN network

· Tulsa registered a 33.3 local rating, the market's highest since 2015 on an ESPN network

ESPN/ESPN2 Lead the Way Amongst Cable Competition; Air Sport's Highest-Rated Cable Games and Earn Highest Rating in Multiple Windows

Week 11 also continued the trend of ESPN and ESPN2 leading the way amongst cable competition, as noted by the two networks airing the nine highest-rated games on cable. The two networks also combined to increase their year-over-year rating in multiple game windows.

ESPN began Saturday increasing its rating by 18% year-over-year, as South Carolina at Florida (noon) carried the momentum that began on Friday night when ESPN2 delivered increases of 20% and 67%, respectively, for its Louisville at Syracuse (7 p.m.) and Fresno State at Boise State (10:30 p.m.) matchups. ESPN's rating for the Gators' victory finished at a 1.3 overnight.

Please note: Overnight ratings are based on estimated times

College Football Week 11: ESPN and ABC Air the Two Most-Watched Prime-Time Sporting Events and Win-the-Night Among all Key Demos

· ESPN and ABC Combine for Prime-time Average Audience of 7.3 Million; Peaking at 8.7 Million

· ABC and ESPN Generate Year-Over-Year Gains in Afternoon Windows; ESPN2 Friday Night Doubleheader up Big

College football resulted in ESPN and ABC airing the two most-watched sporting events in prime-time on Saturday, Nov. 10, and driving the networks to win the night- among sports and non-sports programming. Both networks primetime game telecasts also averaged a higher audience than nearly every other network's prime-time telecast -- sports and non-sports. The success capped a college football weekend where both networks saw a year-over-year audience gain in another game window and ESPN2 saw a significant jump in audience for its Friday night doubleheader.

Auburn-Georgia, Clemson-Boston College were College Football's Two Most-Watched Primetime Games

ESPN's telecast of Auburn at Georgia (7 p.m. ET) averaged a Nielsen total live audience of 3,987,000 viewers and ABC's Saturday Night Football featuring Clemson at Boston College (8 p.m.) averaged a total live audience of 3,930,000 viewers, the two most-watched prime-time games of the week. The two networks, combined, averaged 7,359,000 viewers* between 8-11 p.m., peaking at 8,712,000 viewers (9:15 - 9:30 p.m.).

Among its college football competition, ESPN topped the broadcast networks by 26% and 49%, while ABC topped the same competition by 24% and 47%.

Winning the Night: ESPN and ABC Garner the Most Households, Viewers and Leads in All Key Demos

ESPN and ABC finished either No. 1 or No. 2 in households, total viewers and all key male/adult demos in prime-time November 10, with ESPN winning the night among all key male and adults demos (18-34, 18-49, 25-54) and ABC winning the night among households and P2+ viewers.

Bedlam! Oklahoma State at Oklahoma Generates Year-Over-Year Gains, Peaks at Nearly 7 Million Viewers

ABC's telecast of Oklahoma State at Oklahoma (3:30 p.m.) generated an audience gain of 21% for the network from the same window last year, as the annual Bedlam game averaged a total live audience of 3,992,000 viewers. The audience grew in the second half, peaking at 6,832,000 viewers (7:15-7:30 p.m.) as Oklahoma State attempted a two point conversion with a minute to go in the fourth quarter. The audience for the one-point Sooners' victory was up 57% from last year's same game which aired on a competitor's network. In Oklahoma City and Tulsa, the game drew a 34.7 and 33.3 rating, respectively, setting new multi-year highs in the market, as announced Sunday.

ESPN began its Saturday airing South Carolina at Florida (noon), which averaged a Nielsen total live audience of 2,068,000 viewers, up from the same window last season.

ESPN2 Friday Night Doubleheader Results in 53% Year-Over-Year Audience Gain

ESPN2's Friday night doubleheader featuring Louisville at Syracuse (7 p.m.) and Fresno State at Boise State (10:30 p.m.) was up 53% from last year's week 11 Friday night doubleheader on the network.

*Includes a portion of California at USC on ESPN, which began at 10:30 p.m. ET





  [november 2018]  
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· SATURDAY NIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL (ABC)





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