BEVO BEAT
Texas-Notre Dame is most-watched season opener ever on ABC/ESPN
Posted September 5th, 2016
ESPN now has revised its television numbers from Sunday night’s double-overtime thriller of a win with Notre Dame.
According to the network:
Sunday night’s two-overtime thriller between No. 10 Notre Dame and Texas (7:30 p.m. on ABC) delivered a total live audience measurement (TV + Streaming) of 11,093,000 average viewers, the most-watched college football kickoff weekend game on record across all networks*.
The television audience was measured at 10,899,000 viewers. The streaming accounted for 786,000.
EARLIER:
What happens when two tradition rich programs face each other in a dramatic, double overtime game?
Big, big, TV numbers. ESPN described the TV audience watching the Longhorns knock off the Fighting Irish, 50-47, as “massive.”
The game, which was shown in prime time Sunday on ABC , drew an overnight rating of 7.0.
That’s the second-highest rating ever for a season opening telecast by ESPN/ABC. The only other game that was more watched came in 2005, when Miami played Florida State. (That was the year that Texas last won a national championship).
In addition, Austin was the top market for the game with a rating of 25.4. That was the highest rating the city has registered for an opening weekend telecast. Five other cities also set records: San Antonio (15.1), Dallas (13.1), Indianapolis (11.2), Albuquerque (7.1), San Diego (6.8) and Philadelphia (6.4).
KIRK BOHLS: TEXAS SHOWING SIGNS OF CONFIDENCE
The game also registered big live-streaming numbers, with 786,000 unique viewers watching the game on ESPN’s app. That was a regular-season record.
These were the top 10 markets overall:
| Rank | Local Rating | Market |
| 1 | 25.4 | Austin |
| 2 | 17.3 | Birmingham |
| 3 | 15.1 | San Antonio |
| 4 | 13.1 | Dallas-Ft. Worth |
| 5 | 12.8 | Oklahoma City |
| 6 | 12.7 | Columbus, OH |
| 7 | 11.5 | Houston |
| 8 | 11.2 | Indianapolis |
| 9 | 11.0 | Knoxville |
| 10 | 10.7 | Greenville |
ABC/ESPN is drawing incredible numbers for its season opening weekend that will end with tonight’s Florida State-Mississippi game.
The other ratings for the weekend: USC-Alabama (4.9 overnight), LSU-Wisconsin (4.9), Oklahoma-Houston (4.0), and Clemson-Auburn (2.8).
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