ESPN finished with a 5.3 rating and 8.7 million viewers for last Saturday’s Notre Dame-Michigan game, marking the net’s best regular-season college football audience since Boise State-Virginia Tech in ’10 (6.3 rating, 9.9 million viewers). The game had a higher audience than ESPN’s telecasts of last season's Chick-fil-A and Outback Bowls. ESPN also had its most-viewed Saturday ever during the college football regular season, as the net also saw big audiences for Florida-Miami and South Carolina-Georgia. The net averaged 3.8 million total-day viewers, surpassing the previous high of 3.3 million set on Sept. 12, 2009 -- a day that included 10.6 million viewers for a USC-Ohio State matchup (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
NOTES: Viewership for Blue Jays games on Rogers Sportsnet “are down only slightly from last season’s record highs despite the team’s poor play.” When “it became clear the Jays wouldn’t contend for a playoff spot” in August ‘12, average viewership dropped to 437,000 per game. With the team “again out of contention” by August this year, “ratings fell again,” but to 475,000 per game (THESTAR.com, 9/12)....Cardinals-Rams last Sunday earned a 24.1 local rating in St. Louis, “making it the second-best rated season opener in the last nine seasons” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 9/13).
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
| U.S. Open: Women's Final: Serena Williams d. Victoria Azarenka |
9/8
|
CBS
|
4:28-7:51pm
|
4.0
|
n/a
|
| "NFL on Fox": Packers-49ers (94%) |
9/8
|
Fox
|
4:15-7:30pm
|
16.6
|
28,500
|
| "Sunday Night Football": Giants-Cowboys |
9/8
|
NBC
|
8:31-11:44pm
|
15.0
|
25,398
|
| NFL Kickoff: Ravens-Broncos |
9/5
|
NBC
|
9:08pm-12:25am
|
14.9
|
25,133
|
| "NFL on CBS": (single) |
9/8
|
CBS
|
1:00-4:28pm
|
9.5
|
n/a
|
| "NFL on Fox": (regional) |
9/8
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:15pm
|
9.0
|
14,700
|
| "Football Night in America" |
9/8
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:15pm
|
5.1
|
8,471
|
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Richmond |
9/7
|
ABC
|
7:30-11:27pm
|
3.3
|
5,153
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
9/8
|
Fox
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
3.4
|
5,100
|
| College Football: (regional) |
9/7
|
ABC
|
3:30-6:00pm
|
2.7
|
4,150
|
| "The NFL Today" |
9/8
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
2.5
|
n/a
|
| FIFA World Cup Qualifier: Mexico-Honduras |
9/6
|
UniMas
|
9:06-11:41pm
|
1.8
|
3,563
|
| College Football: West Virginia-Oklahoma |
9/7
|
Fox
|
7:05-10:49pm
|
2.0
|
3,428
|
| U.S. Open: Women's Semifinal: Serena Williams d. Li Na |
9/6
|
CBS
|
4:30-6:30pm
|
1.6
|
n/a
|
| MLB: (regional) |
9/7
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:00pm
|
1.5
|
2,057
|
| U.S. Open: Men's Semifinals: Rafael Nadal d. Richard Gasquet |
9/7
|
CBS
|
5:00-7:30pm
|
1.5
|
n/a
|
U.S. Open: Men's Semifinals:
Novak Djokovic d. Stanislas Wawrinka |
9/7
|
CBS
|
12:00-5:00pm
|
1.4
|
n/a
|
| U.S. Open: Doubles Finals |
9/6
|
CBS
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
1.1
|
n/a
|
U.S. Open: Women's Semifinal:
Victoria Azarenka d. Flavia Pennetta |
9/6
|
CBS
|
2:35-4:30pm
|
1.1
|
n/a
|
| Liga MX: UNAM Pumas-Club America |
9/2
|
UniMas
|
9:20-11:30pm
|
0.6
|
1,188
|
| Liga MX: Club America-Monterrey |
9/7
|
Univ.
|
5:50-8:00pm
|
0.6
|
1,138
|
| Sailing: America's Cup Final |
9/8
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,070
|
| Sailing: America's Cup Final |
9/7
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,040
|
| Diamond League Track & Field |
9/8
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
675
|
| Red Bull: Joyride |
9/7
|
NBC
|
2:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
496
|
| Liga MX: Pachuca-UNAM Pumas |
9/7
|
UniMas
|
7:50-10:00pm
|
0.2
|
326
|
| Cycling: La Vuelta a Espana |
9/8
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.3
|
324
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
| College Football: Notre-Dame Michigan |
9/7
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:45pm
|
5.3
|
8,653
|
| College Football: South Carolina-Georgia |
9/7
|
ESPN
|
4:25-7:53pm
|
4.3
|
7,045
|
| College Football: Florida-Miami |
9/7
|
ESPN
|
12:00-3:31pm
|
3.1
|
4,596
|
| College Football: Florida State-Pitt |
9/2
|
ESPN
|
8:04-11:16pm
|
2.9
|
4,465
|
| "Sunday NFL Countdown" |
9/8
|
ESPN
|
10:00am-1:00pm
|
1.7
|
2,385
|
| NASCAR Nationwide Series: Richmond |
9/6
|
ESPN
|
7:30-10:00pm
|
1.1
|
1,834
|
| "College GameDay" |
9/7
|
ESPN
|
9:00am-12:00pm
|
1.3
|
1,832
|
| College Football: Texas-BYU |
9/7
|
ESPN2
|
8:45pm-12:19pm
|
0.8
|
1,290
|
| MLB: Dodgers-Reds |
9/8
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:05pm
|
0.9
|
1,275
|
| U.S. Open: Second Round |
9/3
|
ESPN
|
7:00-11:45pm
|
0.8
|
1,158
|
