Do TV ratings spell doom for Iowa State and most Big 12 teams?
I have long argued that Iowa State's TV ratings are in large part determined by the network that broadcasts our games. But this year Iowa State had probably the best coverage they've ever had. Of the 12 regular season games, 5 were picked up by FOX, 1 by CBS, 1 by ABC, 1 by ESPN, 3 by FS1 and 1 by ESPN+. That's 7 of 12 on the major broadcast networks, plus one on the next best thing, ESPN. Only 1 was relegated to ESPN+. Also, the Big 12 championship game was picked up by ABC.
All of the broadcast games and the ESPN game exceeded 1 million viewers, with two of them exceeding 2 million. That's not bad and was right up there near the top of the Big 12. But it's nowhere near the kind of numbers the glamor teams from the SEC and Big Ten pull down. Seeing those numbers makes it easy to understand why ESPN/ABC/Disney would seek to manipulate college football to their advantage. The top 21 viewed college games prior to the CFP all involved and SEC or a Big Ten team, with the sole exception of the Army-Navy game. All exceeded 7.1 million viewers. All were carried on broadcast networks. The Army-Navy game had the advantage of not going head-to-head with other major college games.
Despite those great ratings, the playoff games did not fare well compared to the NFL. ABC kept the two games that did not go up against the NFL and gave the other two to TNT. Smart move. Texans-Chiefs averaged 15.5 million viewers on NBC, largely at the same time SMU-Penn State drew an audience of 6.4 million on TNT Sports. Fox got 15.4 million viewers for Steelers-Ravens, which coincided with Clemson-Texas (8.6 million viewers, TNT Sports). Here are the number for the playoff games. Note these games were aired on multiple stations under the primary carriers flag, sometimes with different features.
I have long argued that Iowa State's TV ratings are in large part determined by the network that broadcasts our games. But this year Iowa State had probably the best coverage they've ever had. Of the 12 regular season games, 5 were picked up by FOX, 1 by CBS, 1 by ABC, 1 by ESPN, 3 by FS1 and 1 by ESPN+. That's 7 of 12 on the major broadcast networks, plus one on the next best thing, ESPN. Only 1 was relegated to ESPN+. Also, the Big 12 championship game was picked up by ABC.
All of the broadcast games and the ESPN game exceeded 1 million viewers, with two of them exceeding 2 million. That's not bad and was right up there near the top of the Big 12. But it's nowhere near the kind of numbers the glamor teams from the SEC and Big Ten pull down. Seeing those numbers makes it easy to understand why ESPN/ABC/Disney would seek to manipulate college football to their advantage. The top 21 viewed college games prior to the CFP all involved and SEC or a Big Ten team, with the sole exception of the Army-Navy game. All exceeded 7.1 million viewers. All were carried on broadcast networks. The Army-Navy game had the advantage of not going head-to-head with other major college games.
Despite those great ratings, the playoff games did not fare well compared to the NFL. ABC kept the two games that did not go up against the NFL and gave the other two to TNT. Smart move. Texans-Chiefs averaged 15.5 million viewers on NBC, largely at the same time SMU-Penn State drew an audience of 6.4 million on TNT Sports. Fox got 15.4 million viewers for Steelers-Ravens, which coincided with Clemson-Texas (8.6 million viewers, TNT Sports). Here are the number for the playoff games. Note these games were aired on multiple stations under the primary carriers flag, sometimes with different features.
- Ohio State 42, Tennessee 17: 14.3 million (8 p.m. Saturday, ABC/ESPN)
- Notre Dame 27, Indiana 17: 13.4 million (8 p.m. Friday, ABC/ESPN)
- Texas 38, Clemson 24: 8.6 million (noon Saturday, TNT Sports) vs NFL 15.4M
- Penn State 38, SMU 10: 6.4 million (4 p.m. Saturday, TNT Sports) vs NFL 15.5M
