Michigan at Ohio State is Most-Watched College Football Game This Season

Michigan at Ohio State (noon ET on ABC) delivered a total live audience (TV + streaming) of 16,926,000 viewers, making it by far the most-watched COLLEGE FOOTBALL game this season across all networks. The double-overtime thriller also set new records for its game window and ranks among the most-watched regular season COLLEGE FOOTBALL games on record, for both ABC and across all networks.

ABC's TV audience of 16,647,000 viewers is the most watched COLLEGE FOOTBALL regular season noon ET kickoff across all networks on record and ABC's second most-viewed game out of 791 game windows, dating back to 1991. Also, the viewership for the Ohio State victory ranks among the top 5 most-watched regular season games across all networks - which includes conference championship games - on record.

For ABC, it is the most-watched game in more than 10 years when the network aired the 2006 Michigan-Ohio State game which remains the most-watched regular season game the network has ever televised (21,037,000 viewers). At the time of that game, Michigan ranked No. 2 and Ohio State No. 1 in the country and it kicked off at 3:30 p.m. ET.

ESPN's Streaming Sets New Regular Season Records in Multiple Categories
ESPN's stream garnered 279,000 viewers in the average minute with a total of 1,273,000 unique viewers watching 69,661,000 minutes, ESPN's most-streamed regular season COLLEGE FOOTBALL game ever in all three metrics.

Michigan-Ohio State becomes ESPN's first regular season game to surpass one million unique users and 60 million minutes watched. The impressive average minute audience is the third for ESPN to surpass an average minute audience of 200,000 viewers for a COLLEGE FOOTBALL game, joining this season's Ole Miss at Florida State (231,000 viewers) and Louisville at Clemson (200,000 viewers).

ABC/ESPN Sets Pace for Top COLLEGE FOOTBALL TV Viewership of the 2016 Season
ABC has televised the two most watched COLLEGE FOOTBALL games this season and four of the top 5. Combined with ESPN, the two networks have aired 7 of the top 10.

Image courtesy of ESPN press

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