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With the 2012 college football regular season in the books, Sports Media Watch compiled the TV ratings for most games on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, ESPN and ESPN2. For a program that limped to a 2-10 regular season, sure feels like Boston College football was on TV a lot this season.
The results were a mixed bag for BC. The Eagles were involved in the second highest watched game in the league this year (and two of the top 10), but were also involved in two of the 10 least watch games.
Here is a closer look at the ACC's TV ratings in 2012:
Top 5 highest rated games involving an ACC team:
-- 5.1 - Florida @ Florida State, 3:30 PM ABC -- 7th most watched game of the regular season
-- 3.6 - Notre Dame @ Boston College, 8:00 PM ABC
-- 3.1 - N.C. State @ Clemson / Ohio State @ Wisconsin, 3:30 PM ABC
-- 3.1 - Florida State @ Miami / Baylor @ Texas, 8:00 PM ABC
-- 2.9 - Clemson @ Florida State, 8:00 PM ABC
Top 5 highest rated conference games (non-split, national broadcast):
-- 2.9 - Clemson @ Florida State, 8:00 PM ABC
-- 2.8 - Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech, 8:00 PM ESPN
-- 1.7 - Florida State @ Virginia Tech, 7:30 PM ESPN
-- 1.3 - Virginia Tech @ Miami, 7:30 PM ESPN
-- 1.2 - Florida State vs. Georgia Tech, 8:00 PM ESPN -- ACC Championship Game
Bottom 5 lowest rated games involving an ACC team:
-- 0.1 - Vanderbilt @ Wake Forest, 3:30 PM ESPNU
-- 0.1 - Duke @ Georgia Tech, 3:30 PM ESPNU
-- 0.2 - Maryland @ Clemson, 3:30 PM ESPNU
-- 0.3 - Virginia @ Virginia Tech, 12:00 PM ESPNU
-- 0.3 - Clemson @ Duke, 7:00 PM ESPN2
Some thoughts / observations:
-- Yeah, yeah, it's Notre Dame. But BC seems to have held its own, especially when you look at when the Irish played in a similar Saturday night time slot. The BC-Notre Dame game ratings were bested by Michigan (4.0), Oklahoma (5.2) and USC (9.4). The Notre Dame-Pitt game was the only other Irish game to beat out Notre Dame-BC this season.
-- And if you want to point to the placement of the game on the yearly schedule, the following week Notre Dame turned in its lowest rating of the season with a 1.7 rating as the Irish hosted Wake Forest.
-- Florida State was involved in three of the top five most watched games (Florida, Miami, Clemson), but also in some lightly watched games. In fairness to the 'Noles, two of those three games were against Atlantic Division speed bumps whose seasons were long since over. But the 0.8 rating for the one game that stood between Florida State and a BCS National Championship Game berth is a head scratcher. Fewer people watched that game than watched the Thursday night game between Virginia-North Carolina (0.9, 1.2M).
-- Not surprising that Maryland and the Carolina schools dot the least watched list. Duke only had two nationally televised games this season -- one in prime-time (why??). Both games ranked in the bottom five least watched ACC games of the year. Similarly, Maryland couldn't get out of the bottom six for the Terps' two nationally televised games.
-- I'd have to take a look at historical data, but I suspect the NFL moving in on Thursday nights eroded college football's ratings and viewership on Thursday nights fairly significantly. The Thursday, November 8 game between FSU and Virginia Tech was the league's best Thursday night viewership (1.7, 2.7M). The least watched was the October 25 Clemson-Wake Forest game (0.8, 1.2M). The conference, which once made a living on Thursday night games, will try its luck on Fridays starting next season.
-- A total of 17 games involving ACC teams received a higher rating than the 2012 ACC Championship Game between Florida State and Georgia Tech (1.2, 2.0M). Time to find a better time slot -- or better division champs -- for the ACCCG.
Hat tip: Eagle In Atlanta, via SBN