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CFB Audience Through Week 8: CBS Rebounding; ABC/ESPN Down

After finishing ’17 with its lowest college football viewership in at least a decade, CBS has rebounded nicely this season, with its SEC game audience up 19% through Week 8. The net has seen declines the last four seasons. CBS also is on pace for a 10th straight season as the top network for CFB, while ABC's "Saturday Night Football" is on pace to the most-viewed CFB package for a third straight season. Meanwhile, NBC has had five Notre Dame games this season to date, and compared to the three games through Week 8 last season, the net is up 24% (one game in ’17 went to NBCSN, which is excluded from the ’17 average). Fox also continues to rise one year after record CFB viewership. The net, within its second season of a new Big Ten deal, is up 11%.

WORK TO DO: ABC, ESPN and FS1 all are down for college football to date. ABC, which had its lowest mark in at least a decade in ’17, has continued to slide this season, down 10% for 25 games to date (26 games same point last season). Despite the decline, ABC still has had five of the six most-viewed CFB games all season to date. ESPN had a similar superlative to ABC last season, and also is seeing a double-digit percentage drop for its 45 games through Week 8 (-12%). FS1, coming off its best season yet, can still get back to positive territory with a strong final six weeks of the season, as viewership is only off 5% on the cable net.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL VIEWERSHIP THROUGH WEEK 8
NET
'18 (000)
'17 (000)
% +/-
CBS
4,567
3,833
19%
ABC
4,085
4,537
-10%
NBC
3,625
2,921
24%
Fox
2,847
2,575
11%
ESPN
1,903
2,169
-12%
FS1
778
823
-5%
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CFB Viewership Through Week 8

EARLY BIRDS: ESPN’s “College GameDay” is averaging 1.72 million viewers through Week 8, down just under 1%. The season-opening edition from South Bend for Michigan-Notre Dame remains the top show for the ’18 season to date with 1.87 million viewers. “GameDay” also is being simulcast on ESPNU this season, and when that figure is added to ESPN’s number, the show is seeing a 5% gain to date. ESPNU was not simulcast last season.


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