Highest Rated Games by Network

[M-I-Coug]

Here's how the ratings for the PAC-12/MW/AAC-4/Texas State compare by network. As you'd expect, network distribution and whether or not a Power 4 opponent is involved has a large impact on the ratings.

(Data from https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/)



CBS

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Colorado	Colorado State	3.25M	3	Y (Big 12)
Navy	Air Force	1.28M	6	N
UCLA	Hawaii	1.13M	1	Y (Big Ten)

Fox

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Oregon	Oregon State	2.82M	3	Y (Big Ten)
UTEP	Nebraska	1.67M	1	Y (Big Ten)
Texas Tech	Washington State	1.16M	2	Y (Big 12)

NBC

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Fresno State	Michigan	2.56M	1	Y (Big Ten)

CW

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Colorado State	Oregon State	568K	6	N
San Jose State	Washington State	542K	4	N
Purdue	Oregon State	452K	4	Y (Big Ten)
Idaho State	Oregon State	381K	1	N
Portland State	Washington State	223K	1	N

ESPN

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Colorado State	Texas	1.84M	1	Y (SEC)
Memphis	Florida State	1.59M	3	Y (ACC)
UTSA	Texas	1.48M	3	Y (SEC)
Tulane	Oklahoma	1.39M	3	Y (SEC)
UNLV	Kansas	1.32M	3	Y (Big 12)
Arizona State	Texas State	993K	3	Y (Big 12)
New Mexico	Arizona	953K	1	Y (Big 12)
San Diego State	Cal	938K	3	Y (ACC)
Kansas State	Tulane	790K	2	Y (Big 12)

ESPN2

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
New Mexico	Auburn	662K	3	Y (SEC)
Texas State	Troy	343K	6	N

FS1

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Syracuse	UNLV	698K	6	Y (ACC)
Washington State	Boise State	535K	5	N
Montana State	New Mexico	506K	0	N
Portland State	Boise State	248K	4	N
Washington State	Fresno State	246K	7	N
Fresno State	UNLV	174K	5	N
UNLV	Houston	172K	1	Y (Big 12)
Air Force	Baylor	128K	3	Y (Big 12)

FS2

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Utah State	Boise State	239K	6	N

Big Ten Network

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Nevada	Minnesota	632K	3	Y (Big Ten)
Utah State	USC	589K	2	Y (Big Ten)

ESPNU

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Boise State	Georgia Southern	158K	1	N
Tulane	Louisiana	86K	4	N
UTEP	WKU	81K	7	N
USF	Tulane	41K	5	N
MTSU	Memphis	39K	5	N
UTSA	Texas State	24K	2	N
Troy	Memphis	20K	2	N

truTV

Away	Home	Viewers	Week	P4
Idaho	Wyoming	85K	2	N
San Jose State	Colorado State	75K	7	N
Sacramento State	San Jose State	69K	1	N
Georgia Southern	Nevada	67K	2	N
Texas A&M-CC	San Diego State	66K	1	N
New Mexico State	Fresno State	64K	3	N
UTEP	Colorado State	56K	4	N
Fresno State	New Mexico	55K	4	N
Air Force	New Mexico	52K	7	N
Kennesaw State	San Jose State	35K	3	N
Nevada	San Jose State	28K	6	N

 

[UberCougars]

WSU/ BSU and WSU/SJSU tell the entire story about the headwinds facing WSU moving forward.

There is no spinning this, but, if you want to try, I will not mock you.

 

[UberCougars]

Sac St / SJSU 69k?

Doesn’t seem like the financial savior of a future PAC X conference to me.

Does 69k even pay for the production costs to air the broadcast?

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Sac St / SJSU 69k?

Doesn’t seem like the financial savior of a future PAC X conference to me.

Does 69k even pay for the production costs to air the broadcast?

That truTV must not be carried very widely. I thought I got it with my Spectrum package, but apparently not. Searched for who carries it, looks like maybe DirecTV and Sling? I don't get ESPNU either. Will have to look for FS2.

So don't lament Sac St. too much. Look at Memphis, Tulane and Texas St. on ESPNU. And how BSU vs Georgia Southern smothered all of those guys on ESPNU. Some glimmer of light.

Anyway, we definitely at least need to be on FS1 and/or The CW which are widely carried. This truTV and all those MW games is telling in regard to their media attractiveness and the reach of that lame network.

Good work M-I. those lazy warm days looking out the window at the golf course while researching TV ratings suits you.

Edit - turns out I DO get truTV. Channel 56 on Spectrum. Huh.....

 

[ttowncoug]

We are going to consistently get about 400K in viewers. The rule of thumb I've read is about $4/viewer (yes ad revenue doesn't work that way). So if we have 6 home games to sell at $1.6M, expect about $9.6M in media revenue. Add a little bit more for basketball and I see us coming in around $10M annually for media personally.

I think we should seriously look at bringing the Pac-12 network back. If ran correctly, and efficiently, the "subs" would provide both additional TV exposure but some level of added revenue.

 

[Dave_86]

Interesting on the $4/viewer number... good to know.

Here's what's irked me about the MWC/PAC-12 scheduling agreement:

October 12
OSU @ Nevada
WSU @ Fresno St.

October 19
OSU vs UNLV
WSU vs Hawaii

October 26
OSU @ Cal (A.C.C.)
WSU @ SDSU

November 2
OSU bye
WSU bye

November 9
OSU vs SJSU
WSU vs USU

November 16
OSU @ Air Force
WSU @ New Mexico

Note that every weekend, for 6 weekends in a row, either OSU & WSU are both at home, OSU & WSU are both on the road, or OSU & WSU both have a 'bye'. With OSU & WSU on the road or with a 'bye', the CW does not have a PAC-12 game to broadcast. Don't you think that the CW would like to have at least one of OSU or WSU playing a home game every weekend so they can broadcast at least one PAC-12 game every weekend?

The way these games were scheduled, it sure seems like the MWC was trying to make things difficult for the PAC-12 to get a decent TV contract in 2024.

There are so many things about this football scheduling agreement the PAC-12 has with the MWC this season that just annoys me.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Interesting on the $4/viewer number... good to know.

Here's what's irked me about the MWC/PAC-12 scheduling agreement:

October 12
OSU @ Nevada
WSU @ Fresno St.

October 19
OSU vs UNLV
WSU vs Hawaii

October 26
OSU @ Cal (A.C.C.)
WSU @ SDSU

November 2
OSU bye
WSU bye

November 9
OSU vs SJSU
WSU vs USU

November 16
OSU @ Air Force
WSU @ New Mexico

Note that every weekend, for 6 weekends in a row, either OSU & WSU are both at home, OSU & WSU are both on the road, or OSU & WSU both have a 'bye'. With OSU & WSU on the road or with a 'bye', the CW does not have a PAC-12 game to broadcast. Don't you think that the CW would like to have at least one of OSU or WSU playing a home game every weekend so they can broadcast at least one PAC-12 game every weekend?

The way these games were scheduled, it sure seems like the MWC was trying to make things difficult for the PAC-12 to get a decent TV contract in 2024.

There are so many things about this football scheduling agreement the PAC-12 has with the MWC this season that just annoys me.

How do your really feel there Dave? Nice analysis BTW.

That said, I looked at our remaining schedules. Aside from both of us having a CBSSN (away) game, I don't see the issue. Like Saturday - WSU is on at 12:30, OSU at 7PM. Both on The CW.

 

[dgibbons]

Interesting on the $4/viewer number... good to know.

Here's what's irked me about the MWC/PAC-12 scheduling agreement:

October 12
OSU @ Nevada
WSU @ Fresno St.

October 19
OSU vs UNLV
WSU vs Hawaii

October 26
OSU @ Cal (A.C.C.)
WSU @ SDSU

November 2
OSU bye
WSU bye

November 9
OSU vs SJSU
WSU vs USU

November 16
OSU @ Air Force
WSU @ New Mexico

Note that every weekend, for 6 weekends in a row, either OSU & WSU are both at home, OSU & WSU are both on the road, or OSU & WSU both have a 'bye'. With OSU & WSU on the road or with a 'bye', the CW does not have a PAC-12 game to broadcast. Don't you think that the CW would like to have at least one of OSU or WSU playing a home game every weekend so they can broadcast at least one PAC-12 game every weekend?

The way these games were scheduled, it sure seems like the MWC was trying to make things difficult for the PAC-12 to get a decent TV contract in 2024.

There are so many things about this football scheduling agreement the PAC-12 has with the MWC this season that just annoys me.

Remember that WSU and OSU were added to the schedule late. Having a schedule buddy is an easy way to do it. But, yes the Pac-12 paid a high price for what we got. Loyal's commissioner crush ultimately hard bargained her conference into a much weaker one.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

How do your really feel there Dave? Nice analysis BTW.

That said, I looked at our remaining schedules. Aside from both of us having a CBSSN (away) game, I don't see the issue. Like Saturday - WSU is on at 12:30, OSU at 7PM. Both on The CW.

Did you read what he said?

The pac gets it's most viewers on the CW, and half the time the total viewership on the CW is exactly zero, because there are no games being aired.

 

[CougInSpain]

Lets also put into context the availability of CW. The very first game of the season was on the CW. I went to the gym about 45 mins prior to kickoff that day. Just as the game started, I asked one of the workers there to switch the channel on one of the TVs to the channel. If you guessed that it was blacked out, then you guessed correctly. CW needs to allow more availability if it wants more eyeballs and greater visibility to their product. Especially if they're trying to compete in the sports broadcasting market.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Interesting on the $4/viewer number... good to know.

Here's what's irked me about the MWC/PAC-12 scheduling agreement:

October 12
OSU @ Nevada
WSU @ Fresno St.

October 19
OSU vs UNLV
WSU vs Hawaii

October 26
OSU @ Cal (A.C.C.)
WSU @ SDSU

November 2
OSU bye
WSU bye

November 9
OSU vs SJSU
WSU vs USU

November 16
OSU @ Air Force
WSU @ New Mexico

Note that every weekend, for 6 weekends in a row, either OSU & WSU are both at home, OSU & WSU are both on the road, or OSU & WSU both have a 'bye'. With OSU & WSU on the road or with a 'bye', the CW does not have a PAC-12 game to broadcast. Don't you think that the CW would like to have at least one of OSU or WSU playing a home game every weekend so they can broadcast at least one PAC-12 game every weekend?

The way these games were scheduled, it sure seems like the MWC was trying to make things difficult for the PAC-12 to get a decent TV contract in 2024.

There are so many things about this football scheduling agreement the PAC-12 has with the MWC this season that just annoys me.

Good points, but remember this schedule was thrown together after the traitors bailed. Football schedules are mostly set years in advance. Longer term, with the new PAC X, I suspect they will be looking at this with regard to scheduling. This year and next year we are in a position to pretty much take what ever we can get from a scheduling perspective.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

I look at it a bit different in terms of understanding the viewership numbers that I see (by the way, thanks for this good research, M-I). I think of WSU as generally bringing 150-250K viewing fans to the TV party, depending upon all the variables of opponent, time of year, success of both teams, availability of the broadcast network, etc. The other team will also bring some fans. The biggest variable is how many eyeballs will be attracted that are not invested WSU or opponent fans. Obviously BSU brought more fans than FSU, on the same network. I suspect that FSU's fan viewing was down a bit this year and we were not viewed as a rival in the same way that BSU viewed us. I also suspect that the fact that we both had good records may have brought more neutral eyeballs to the BSU game.

The ball game from the advertiser perspective is attracting those neutral eyeballs. That means a combination of interesting football, some sort of story line, and advertising/promotion.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Lets also put into context the availability of CW. The very first game of the season was on the CW. I went to the gym about 45 mins prior to kickoff that day. Just as the game started, I asked one of the workers there to switch the channel on one of the TVs to the channel. If you guessed that it was blacked out, then you guessed correctly. CW needs to allow more availability if it wants more eyeballs and greater visibility to their product. Especially if they're trying to compete in the sports broadcasting market.

Why would it have been blacked out? I have it on my ripoff cable, but isn't The CW available over the air? I'm confused.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Did you read what he said?

The pac gets it's most viewers on the CW, and half the time the total viewership on the CW is exactly zero, because there are no games being aired.

No I didn't read his post or do I ever read anyone's for that matter. I just post random shit on whatever thread I happen to land on.

Yes I read it, and after re-reading it and yours I see the point of "no games" every other weekend maybe annoying The CW. But I don't think there was some nefarious motive behind the scheduling, and The CW wasn't even in the picture at the time. I'm more annoyed at our away games sometimes appearing on CBSSN, which I don't get. Grrr.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Lets also put into context the availability of CW. The very first game of the season was on the CW. I went to the gym about 45 mins prior to kickoff that day. Just as the game started, I asked one of the workers there to switch the channel on one of the TVs to the channel. If you guessed that it was blacked out, then you guessed correctly. CW needs to allow more availability if it wants more eyeballs and greater visibility to their product. Especially if they're trying to compete in the sports broadcasting market.

Say what?

That's specifically the opposite of what is supposed to be going on with the CW. Was it cable or OTA? Not sure that it matters, but I could see a cable provider bitching out because CW didn't provide a pound of flesh.

 

[CougInSpain]

Say what?

That's specifically the opposite of what is supposed to be going on with the CW. Was it cable or OTA? Not sure that it matters, but I could see a cable provider bitching out because CW didn't provide a pound of flesh.

I think my gym has a cable setup, but I think you might be right. It was incredibly frustrating to see that it wouldn't air. I have access to Xfinity Streaming so I tried to put it on my phone as I was finishing my workout but surprise, I had to be connected to my home wifi in order to stream it on my phone. Total BS.

 

[Dave_86]

Week 8 viewership

 

[KRUSTYtheCOUG]

Week 8 viewership

Well that ain't great. COUGS are the lowest rated former P5 member. At least OSU beat out some of those with a respectable audience number. That's all I have to say about that

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Well that ain't great. COUGS are the lowest rated former P5 member. At least OSU beat out some of those with a respectable audience number. That's all I have to say about that

Not great at all. I don't know who all we were up against at that time since SEC network games aren't included, but OSU/UNLV likely had the screen to themselves with the late game other than TCU/Utah.

 

[CougInSpain]

Not great at all. I don't know who all we were up against at that time since SEC network games aren't included, but OSU/UNLV likely had the screen to themselves with the late game other than TCU/Utah.

I don't understand why they would air game against Hawaii starting @ 12:30 PM Pacific when its 9:30 AM in Hawaii. You can almost guarantee Hawaii fans aren't tuning in that early.