Connect with your Facebook Account

• Contact

Football Articles

6

ESPN Strikes Ratings Gold With College, NFL Football

Posted by srr50 on September 16th, 2009 under Football

Last weekend offered further proof that football is the sport of choice among fans, and ESPN is its top promoter. The WWL set cable viewing records for both the USC-Ohio State game and Monday Night Football.

The Saturday night telecast of the Trojan’s 18-15 win over the Buckeyes was the network’s most-viewed college football game ever. Over 10.5 million viewers tuned into the game.


USC’s win over Ohio State helped ESPN become the number one TV network for the night — cable or broadcast.

It wasn’t just the number of eyeballs that were glued to the set that made the WWL overjoyed. Their success over all the various platforms of new media that night was also impressive. The game was simulcast of ESPN360.com and it helped the website record the most total hours of viewing ever on the broadband network.

ON ESPN.com, the College Football section logged more than 24 million page views.

ABC had a winner as well with the Michigan win over Notre Dame grabbing a 5.2 rating with over 8.3 million viewers.


The Wolverines 38-34 last minute win over Notre Dame was the highest-rated college football game for ABC since last years Texas-OU contest.

While the early returns on college football for both ABC and ESPN show dramatic increases from last year, the NFL still remains the true National Pastime.

The Monday Night Football doubleheader on ESPN produced the two biggest cable television audiences of the year, helping the WWL again to finish Monday night as the #1 rated network, cable or broadcast.


On Monday night, Tom Brady delivered a last-second win for the Patriots and over 14 million viewers for ESPN.

New England’s dramatic 25-24 win over the Buffalo Bills was watched by the largest audience for any program on cable TV for 2009. Just over 14 million viewers tuned in.

That game was followed by San Diego vs. Oakland, which produced the second-largest cable TV audience of the year — over 11.9 million viewers.

Back on the college front, while NBC watched with dismay as their network “team,” which has seen ratings plummet over the past couple of years, finally helped to produce boffo ratings numbers for ABC, they took solace in that coming soon to the Peacock Network will be USC at Notre Dame.

Article Tags:

, , , , , , , ,

More from this Barker


Share This

  • StumbleUpon

6 Responses

  1. johnnymac said:

    September 16th, 2009 at 6:34 pm

    ESPN360 is the bomb. Comcast started carrying it this year and now there is no need for Gameplan since my TV has a VGA input and I can just plug in the laptop and watch whatever regionally televised ACC or Big Ten team I happen to care about on any particular weekend. Someday all TV is going to be on demand like that via the Interweb Tubes.

  2. admin said:

    September 16th, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    Comcast has it now? That’s pure tits.

  3. johnnymac said:

    September 17th, 2009 at 6:19 am

    Comcast broadband internet that is. Still via the internet and not on cable TV (I am a DirecTV man, myself).

    I think it has something to do with the respective ISP’s allowing that much bandwidth to flow through their tubes, so ESPN eventually gets them to agree and the service gets turned on. Regardless, all I really know is that it used to not work here in Houston and now any game that’s listed as “Gameplan” on ESPN is also available for free on ESPN360 with decent video quality.

    They also have a lot of European and English soccer (ie the Coca Cola) that also isn’t normally televised, either. And all for free.

    It is indeed the bomb.

  4. Sailor Ripley said:

    September 17th, 2009 at 7:04 am

    .

    Awesome.

    ESPN 360 on Comcast

  5. Huckleberry said:

    September 17th, 2009 at 7:18 am

    Yep, I figured it out this weekend and watched to my heart’s content. There weren’t many good games on because of the shitty OOC scheduling of most teams, but it was still extra football. Watching Bill Snyder lose to Louisiana-Lafayette and Bobby Bowden escape Jacksonville State was fun stuff.

  6. lindsay2mayes said:

    September 17th, 2009 at 7:51 am

    I can’t believe that ESPN/ABC somehow thought it would be a better idea to televise NASCAR instead of USC/tOSU.

Leave a Reply

Follow Us

Related Articles

Hot Forum Topics

Activity

  • Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Round 2 Saturday Recaps   9 minutes ago

    We talked about the upset of the decade in this post, but I watched some other great basketball today I’d like to comment on.

    For me, the theme of the day was well-played basketball. I’m not only talking about what Northern Iowa did, I’m talking about the other seven games being really well

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Madness Magic: Northern Iowa Upsets Kansas   22 minutes ago

    Just a phenomenal game.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Recapping The South   34 minutes ago

    Udoh was a fargging beast in that game. Very athletic player.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   58 minutes ago

    Jesus. I think I see four horseman on the horizon.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Madness Magic: Northern Iowa Upsets Kansas   1 hour, 1 minute ago

    Today reminded me why I love this tournament so much. A good friend of mine mentioned to me that college basketball is the great equalizer of all athletic endeavors. At least of the sports we care about. He’s right.

    For instance, you can have a 40 inch vertical, be Iverson quick,

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   1 hour, 5 minutes ago

    Patrick,

    Unless you’re completely retarded, you know precisely what I meant. The closest any Big 12 team has gotten to winning the infamous Fuller Cup is the 2007 Texas squad. I can’t remember a team being that horribly undisciplined as a whole aside from the insane OU teams of the 80’s. That’s not

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   1 hour, 5 minutes ago

    Patrick,

    Unless you’re completely retarded, you know precisely what I meant. The closest any Big 12 team has gotten to winning the infamous Fulmer Cup is the 2007 Texas squad. I can’t remember a team being that horribly undisciplined as a whole aside from the insane OU teams of the 80’s. That’s not

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley wrote a new blog post: This Is Sparta!   1 hour, 18 minutes ago

    Please make yourself welcome and Adam will be by shortly to keep you up to date on all Michigan State Spartan happenings.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   1 hour, 22 minutes ago

    I suppose anyone could be your “favorite Longhorn basketball player” but Ford did more than just about anyone…although Durant is clearly better. Ford’s supporting cast was better than Durant’s in his sophomore year. Durant’s had more talent (Augustin, James, Abrams) but Ford’s was more developed (Boddicker, Ivey, Mouton, Thomas) and had worked with him for

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Bradley or Hamilton?   1 hour, 29 minutes ago

    Crazy Joe, your thoughts intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Bradley or Hamilton?   1 hour, 31 minutes ago

    This notion of Hamilton as being a disaster area on defense is all a bit much. He rebounds extremely well which, if it wasn’t obvious, is extremely important in this game since it secures possession of the basketball. Winning in basketball is achieved through the scoring of baskets and it’s necessary to possess the basketball

  • Ojnab Bob commented on the blog post Best Opening Round I Can Remember   1 hour, 42 minutes ago

    I posted earlier about how Collins’ effort just crippled Kansas today, but what amazed me the most was his complete inability to stay in front of his man on defense. UNI got a LOT of good looks out of penetration/pass after one of UNI’s modestly gifted athletes blew right by Sherron. The best

  • Scipio Tex wrote a new blog post: Best Opening Round I Can Remember   2 hours, 54 minutes ago

    At least it’s shaping up that way if Sunday delivers.

    As disappointed as I was in last year’s opening weekend of March Madness, this one is exceeding all expectations. Putting aside the fact that my bracket now resembles Kabul after the Taliban rolled through in ‘96 – a map of ordered failure –

  • J commented on the blog post Bid Dance: Day Three   3 hours, 21 minutes ago

    Thanks for the kind words, Trips.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • J commented on the blog post Bid Dance: Day Three   3 hours, 21 minutes ago

    You know who’s bitter and angry as fuck? This guy —> ME.

    I can only hope our returning players (whoever that may be) remember this and realize they need to play motivated EVERY FUCKING GAME and put forward 40 MINUTES of effort each game.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Raoul Duke commented on the blog post Rumor Alert–TMG   3 hours, 53 minutes ago

    Kid seems like a fantastic collegiate player. I haven’t seen any NBA info. Is he a legit prospect?

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Raoul Duke commented on the blog post Bid Dance: Day Three   3 hours, 59 minutes ago

    Tough day for Sherron on O and D.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • GoHornsGo90 commented on the blog post Bradley or Hamilton?   4 hours, 44 minutes ago

    To leave or stay?

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   4 hours, 45 minutes ago

    KSU moving on led by a hot shooting Pullen. BTW, White Mormons can shoot FTs. 22 for 25, I think. Imagine if we could shoot like that.

    Wake’s coming back on Kentucky. They’re within 25 right now…..

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Bid Dance: Day Three   5 hours, 3 minutes ago

    Just wanted to say I feel for you guys. As a Texas fan I know how this feels even if it’s from a football perspective.

    I still think you’re the best basketball team in the country, and unfortunately you ran into a team that packed a Villanova circa 1985 type game today. Meaning they

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   5 hours, 12 minutes ago

    Wow. Wake won’t break 50. Not surprising really — we should have beaten Wake and they are not a very good team.

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   5 hours, 18 minutes ago

    Kentucky doing their best to beat Wake by half hundred. Close call….

  • RRR wrote a new blog post: Survive and Advance   5 hours, 21 minutes ago

    We really struggled in the first half, but battled through it to get a tough win against Jacksonville.  On to Oxford!

     Forget what conference they play in, Jacksonville is a very good basketball team, and they got to Lubbock not because of a crazy bank shot at the buzzer in Phoenix, but by playing aggressive, intense defense for

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”http://tortillaretort.fantake.com/1969/12/31/” });

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   5 hours, 39 minutes ago

    The shamrock is on his left shoulder. The Griffin looking thing is on his right.

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   5 hours, 48 minutes ago

    Everytime I see a Gumbel brother I think of “Gumbel to Gumbel”

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   6 hours, 1 minute ago

    Kentucky starting to pile on Wake. That would have been our fate…..

    KSU just killing the Mormons on the glass…

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   6 hours, 28 minutes ago

    10 point lead for the Mormons again…

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   6 hours, 43 minutes ago

    This is the first-time Frank Martin has ever met a Mormon who wasn’t on a bicycle.

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   6 hours, 47 minutes ago

    Does that mean he gets to pick his wives first???

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   6 hours, 48 minutes ago

    BYU starts a 2-time Utah “Mr. Basketball.” Everything about that sentence kills me.