In a season that has been dominated by the SEC on ABC, Fox was able to buck the trend on Saturday.
Anchored by a top-five matchup between Indiana and Ohio State in its Big Noon Saturday window, Fox was able to secure the most-watched college football game of the week. The Buckeyes’ win over the Hoosiers averaged 9.33 million viewers, peaking at 10.52 million in the 1:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.
The matchup was good for Fox’s second-most watched game on the network this year, behind 9.94 million viewers for Ohio State-Penn State and just ahead of Texas-Michigan with 9.19 million viewers. Overall, Fox’s Big Noon Saturday window is averaging 5.06 million viewers through 13 weeks. That is down a marginal 3% from this time last season when the window averaged 5.21 million viewers.
Fox also won the 3:30 p.m. ET window with a matchup between Colorado and Kansas, beating out a Kentucky-Texas game over on ABC. The Jayhawks’ upset win over Coach Prime and Co. averaged 6.22 million viewers, by far Fox’s largest audience for its afternoon window this season and good for the third most-watched game of the week. The Wildcats and Longhorns averaged 4.5 million viewers during the afternoon window on ABC.
ABC’s primetime game featuring Oklahoma’s upset win over Alabama was good for the second most-watched game of the week, averaging 7.0 million viewers, per ESPN PR. The network’s 7:30 p.m. ET game has now won the primetime window in 11 out of 13 weeks this season.
While much of the viewership narrative this college football season has been centered around ABC’s success with its new SEC package, Fox has held relatively steady year-over-year. Though it’s unlikely this Saturday’s Michigan-Ohio State game will beat the monster 19.07 million viewer audience it did last season, resulting in an almost certain year-over-year decline for the Big Noon package as a whole, the slip will likely be modest.
As expected, a back loaded schedule filled with numerous Ohio State games has pulled Fox out of its early season doldrums. It won’t be enough to retain its multi-year title of having the most-watched college football window on television — that will be going to ABC’s 7:30 p.m. ET window — but it’ll be enough to quiet some of the hysteria about Big Noon‘s viability.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.