• SNF Franchise is Up on TV, Streaming Audience Continues to Grow; ABC Up Significantly Year Over Year
• Week 5: Louisville at Clemson is Most-Watched, Most-Streamed Saturday Game of the Season

Through college football’s first five weeks, ABC’s Saturday Night Football is averaging a total live audience (TV + Streaming) of 6,201,000 viewers, the most-watched college football franchise on any network.  The television audience is averaging 6,100,000 viewers a game, 28% better than the next best window on any other network and up 3% from the first five weeks of ABC’s Saturday Night Football last season. The franchise’s streaming audience has garnered 101,000 average minute viewers per game, up 84% year over year.

Accounting for all ABC games (16 games), the network’s total live audience is 5,760,000 viewers per game, college football’s most-watched network.  The television audience (5,659,000 viewers) and streaming audience (101,000 viewers) is up 16% and 90%, respectively, year over year.

Louisville-Clemson Delivers Large Audience

In week 5, ABC’s Saturday Night Football featured the season’s first top 5 matchup – No. 3 Louisville at No. 5 Clemson (8 p.m.). The much-anticipated, ACC showdown generated a total live audience of 9,494,000 viewers, the most-watched Saturday college football game of the season across all networks. ABC’s TV audience of 9,294,000 viewers is the third most-watched October Saturday Night Football game ever (34 games).

Saturday Night Football dates back to 2006

The stream of the Tigers’ 42-36 victory generated an average minute audience of 200,000 viewers with 812,000 unique viewers watching a total of 51,107,000 minutes, making it the second-most streamed regular season college football game ever for ESPN.

Additional Louisville at Clemson Highlights:

• ABC Wins the Night: ABC was the most-watched network in prime time across all broadcast and cable in all key demographics — households, persons 2+, men 18-34, men 18-49, men 25-54, persons 18-34, persons 18-49, and persons 25-54 while ESPN ranked No. 2 (Kentucky at Alabama and Arizona at UCLA) among men 18-34, men 18-49,  men 25-54,  persons 18-34, and persons 18-49.
• Year Over Year Increase: The Cardinals-Tigers’ total live audience (9,494,000 viewers) was up 23% from Notre Dame at Clemson (7,718,000 viewers), last season’s week 5 Saturday Night Football
• Record Setting Louisville Game: ABC’s TV audience was the best ever for a Louisville football regular season game on any ESPN network, surpassing the previous high — West Virginia at Louisville on Nov. 2, 2006 on ESPN — by 45% (6,395,000 viewers).

Additional Week 5 Highlights:

• Wisconsin at Michigan (3:30 p.m. on ABC) delivered a total live audience of 6,990,000 viewers, week 5’s second-most watched game across all networks and one of the most-watched games of the season.
• Stanford at Washington (Friday, Sept. 30, at 8 p.m. on ESPN) delivered a total live audience of 3,424,000 viewers, the second-most watched Friday game on ESPN on record*, trailing only Boise State at Michigan State from week 1 in 2012 (non-thanksgiving day weekend).
• Texas at Oklahoma State (noon on ABC) with a total live audience of 3,852,000 viewers was up 38% year over year to the comparable game window (Texas at TCU).

ESPN/ABC Set the Pace Across All Networks; ESPN Streaming Usage Increase Continues
Through week 5, ESPN/ABC has combined to televise the three most-watched college football games across all networks and seven of the top 8.

Additionally, this year’s three most-watched college football games — Ole Miss-Florida State, Louisville-Clemson, and Notre Dame-Texas — represent the three most streamed regular season college football games ever for ESPN.

*Records date back to 1990

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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; [email protected] and @DerekVolner