COLUMBUS – The Buckeyes and Crimson Tide are good for college football on TV.
Birmingham, Ala., was the No. 1 market for college football this season, with a 7.4 rating, according to ESPN, followed by Columbus (6.7), Dayton (4.9), Greenville, N.C. (4.7 and Cleveland (3.9), according to ESPN.
Five of the nine most watched games involved either Ohio State or Alabama, including the season’s ratings winner, the Buckeyes’ 30-27 double-overtime win over Michigan on Nov. 26, which drew 16.8 million viewers on ABC.
The second-most watched game was the SEC Championship game between the Tide and Florida Dec. 3 on CBS (11.1 million). Alabama’s games against LSU on Nov. 5 and Texas A&M Oct. 22 were also among the eight most watched, as was the Buckeyes Oct. 15 overtime win at Wisconsin.
The network estimated 179 million fans watched more than 100 billion minutes of college football during the 2016 season.
The growth of streaming was reflected in the record 15 million unique devices used to watch games online during the season, an increase of more than 17 percent over last year.