SEC lifted ESPN to strong ratings

Outside of a high-octane Ohio State-Oregon tilt on NBC Saturday night, ESPN won the day on the backs of several SEC contests.

The aforementioned game between Ohio State and Oregon broke the eight-figure barrier and averaged 10.2 million viewers Saturday night to clock in as the second most-watched game of the season. But aside from that, ESPN’s games carried the day.

The network scored the second and third most-watched games of the day, along with five of the top seven. And no surprise, most of those contests were SEC affairs.

In their first meeting as members of the SEC, the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma averaged 7.9 million viewers on ABC, winning the 3:30 p.m. window on Saturday. Per ESPN PR, the game was the 3rd largest audience for the rivalry in a full national window.

Right behind the Red River Rivalry was a close tilt between South Carolina and Alabama in the noon window on ABC. That game averaged 6.4 million viewers to win the day’s early window. Notably, that game peaked at 9.0 million viewers, higher than the Red River Rivalry’s peak (8.8 million viewers) later that day.

In other SEC action, Ole Miss-LSU averaged 4.2 million viewers in the primetime window on ABC, directly head-to-head with the top-5 Ohio State-Oregon matchup. Florida and Tennessee chipped in 3.2 million viewers at 7 p.m. over on ESPN.

One Big 12 contest also stuck out with a strong number for the network. Kansas State and Colorado drew 3.3 million viewers in the late night window on ESPN, actually increasing the audience from its Florida-Tennessee lead-in. The figure was the second most-watched late window game on ESPN since 2012. The only game that beat it? Colorado and Colorado State last season, which drew an absurd 9.3 million viewers despite not kicking off until 10:15 p.m. on the East Coast.

Other than the steady viewership success of Coach Prime and his Colorado Buffaloes, the SEC continues to be the straw that stirs ESPN’s drink. With ESPN’s ten-year media rights agreement with the conference off to a strong start this season, it’s safe to say the network is excited for the next decade of SEC football.

[ ESPN ]

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