TV Ratings for Every Michigan Game This Season
Here are the ratings and ranking for each Michigan game this season. NOTE: The opener vs. East Carolina was on Peacock, so there were no ratings registered for that one.
UNLV vs. Michigan - 2.97 million viewers (No. 5 CFB game that week)
Bowling Green vs. Michigan - 1.32 million viewers (No. 11)
Rutgers vs. Michigan - 1.94 million viewers (No. 11)
Nebraska vs. Michigan - 4.48 million viewers (No. 5)
Minnesota vs. Michigan - 3.06 million viewers (No. 6)
Indiana vs. Michigan - 3.55 million viewers (No. 4)
Michigan State vs. Michigan - 3.73 million viewers (No. 4)
Purdue vs. Michigan - 2.60 million viewers (No. 9)
Penn State vs. Michigan - 9.16 million viewers (No. 1)
Maryland vs. Michigan - 5.43 million viewers (No. 2)
Ohio State vs. Michigan - 19.07 million viewers (No. 1)
As we know, the Michigan-OSU game was far and away the highest-rated game of the season. Second place was the Colorado-Oregon game, which drew 10.03 million viewers.
The highest-rated SEC game all year was Auburn-Alabama, which drew 9.09 million viewers. (LSU vs. Florida State was a non-conference game that drew 9.17 million viewers.)
For comparison purposes, the highest-rated Stanley Cup Finals game this year drew 2.8 million viewers, the highest-rated NBA Finals game drew 13 million viewers and the highest-rated World Series game drew 11.4 million viewers. The NFL is in a league of its own.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:39 PM ^
Nobody's got it better than us!
November 30th, 2023 at 10:24 PM ^
No, no, no. You say, “Who’s got it better than us?” And then we shout, “NOBODY!!” And then we all sing, “For he’s a jolly good fellow.” Those are the rules. Also, that is bonkers that 7 of our 11 charted games were top five in ratings for their respective weeks (and an 8th game was rated #6).
November 30th, 2023 at 8:42 PM ^
Glad we got that New York market. Rutgers really paying off big time. SMH!!!
November 30th, 2023 at 9:12 PM ^
Haha! It’s not showing up in tv ratings, but the east coast additions have definitely helped to boost the influx of DMV and NJ talent into the B1G. We’ve benefited quite handsomely from that arrangement 😁
November 30th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
Wasn't the purpose of Rutgers to get cable companies to carry the B1G Network on their base package in NYC?
I'm not in NYC, but if that worked, then I wonder if Rutgers supports more revenue for the B1G than either Nebraska or Iowa really.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:54 PM ^
Exactly. It was never about viewers, it was about getting BTN in as many households as possible. You pay for the channels whether you watch them or not.
Rutgers has been lackluster as a competitive addition, but they’ve more than paid off as a financial addition.
November 30th, 2023 at 10:19 PM ^
Maryland too.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:48 PM ^
I hope Michigan leaves this conference sooner rather than later
December 1st, 2023 at 6:58 AM ^
It was great back when we were actually the Big 10 with 10 teams!
November 30th, 2023 at 8:57 PM ^
I quite enjoy the little stat that the Penn State game was rated higher than every single SEC game.
November 30th, 2023 at 10:19 PM ^
And it was just a warmup for us.
November 30th, 2023 at 11:08 PM ^
I know they like their football down in the south, but it’s almost like maybe It just means more up here in the East and Midwest.
December 1st, 2023 at 8:25 AM ^
Ftr psu-osu drew 9.96m viewers.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:00 PM ^
Michigan clears.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:00 PM ^
And if you are curious about NFL games' viewership, here it is...
Those are, uh, A LOT.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:19 PM ^
I knew the NFL was in a league of their own, but never really looked deeply at it, and DEAR GOD. They pull 20+ weekly. The Lions-Packers thanksgiving game alone had 33.7 million!?!?
November 30th, 2023 at 9:22 PM ^
It helps to be the only football game being broadcasted.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:52 PM ^
And, almost every family in the US together in search of something to watch…
December 1st, 2023 at 8:22 AM ^
And crap tons of people betting on NFL games (more than double the volume of betting on cfb games).
November 30th, 2023 at 9:27 PM ^
Petitti knows where his bread is buttered. Numbers like those can’t hold a candle to a Purdue- Rutgers showdown.
God I wish there was just a morsel of steam to the idea of moving to the ACC.
December 1st, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
I agree completely with your sentiment. However, my father has proposed this potential idea Michigan to the big 12 bringing along Nebraska and Iowa. Why Nebraska and Iowa? Well, Nebraska already has a built-in rivalry with returning conference member Colorado and Iowa plays Iowa State every year already. Plus, Michigan can be filling the void left behind by Texas and Oklahoma's departure to the SEC by being the big dogs of the big 12.
December 1st, 2023 at 4:04 PM ^
But it may lose the interest in recruits from the east coast. NJ, FL, not to mention OH and PA.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
Surprised Maryland is so high (even with win 1000), and Michigan State is so low (even though... rivalry). Supports that MSU does not need to be a protect rivalry if we stay in the BIG.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:59 PM ^
Not a surprise, what is not in these numbers is time of day and network. That makes a big difference. Comparing a BTN game to a Fox game is apples to oranges.
November 30th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
Oh come on man, like you actually give a shit about the tv ratings when we play State??
Michigan is the greatest university in the world and I support anything that helps the students of the school, but I really couldn't care less about the television ratings. I'm really confused at what you guys are all celebrating about.
December 1st, 2023 at 12:34 AM ^
Leader and best in everything, my man!
December 1st, 2023 at 1:15 AM ^
Blowouts harm the ratings because people turn it off. I do not know if that affects the total viewers figure. But also MSU was a Saturday night game and they are not a good football team.
December 1st, 2023 at 6:33 AM ^
Blowouts harm the ratings because people turn it off.
So what?
November 30th, 2023 at 9:39 PM ^
Also: The Georgia-TCU national championship game drew 17.223 million viewers and the UConn-San Diego State NCAA final drew 14.7 million viewers.
A regular-season Michigan game beat both of them.
December 1st, 2023 at 12:45 PM ^
The regular-season Michigan game was more competitive than either of those championship games, fwiw.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:54 PM ^
It’s nice that Michigan’s second highest rated game actually drew more viewers than the SEC’s highest rated game of the year.
And, of course, there’s Michigan’s conference season finale that was over twice the highest rated SEC contest.
November 30th, 2023 at 10:22 PM ^
It must mean less.
November 30th, 2023 at 10:14 PM ^
Thats an average rating of 5.4, Not bad at all!
November 30th, 2023 at 10:16 PM ^
nice post
this weekend is going to be full of highly watched games....I'm going to watch most or all of them
feels like college football is quickly getting bigger
November 30th, 2023 at 10:24 PM ^
Whether we like it or not, college football is going to be an NFL mirror league, with teams anchored to universities instead of cities. Everything else will be nearly identical.
December 1st, 2023 at 12:49 PM ^
Sadly, I agree with your take. Much of the uniqueness of college football, its rivalries and traditions, is slipping away. NBC’s Saturday night college football game is nearly identical to its Sunday night NFL broadcast.
November 30th, 2023 at 10:19 PM ^
Obviously the opponent matters and that shows in the numbers. But I assume time and network does too. My recollection was that Maryland was Big Noon, as were most of the other bigger ones, with the exception of an NBC game or two. Putting the time and network on these numbers would be interesting. Presumably the networks are good at game selection, but I assume simply putting a game in a prime slot adds viewers too.
November 30th, 2023 at 11:16 PM ^
Who wouldn’t want to watch The North dominate the shit bag of a team for a third year in a row. Assistant coach vs Third Base Day. Leaders and best baby!
December 1st, 2023 at 3:24 AM ^
Nobody is beating the NFL in the ratings. It's not uncommon for a regular season NFL game to bring in 30 million viewers. That's why CBS was so severely kneecapped by losing its NFL rights to FOX back in 1993.
December 1st, 2023 at 6:01 AM ^
Great post man!
That LSU/FSU game was prime time on a holiday weekend (Sunday night) with no other games to compete against.
December 1st, 2023 at 7:20 AM ^
Crazy that M v Maryland drew double the highest Stanley cup game.
I'd bet the highest SEC game will be this weekend.
Great numbers here. Would be interested to see how this stacks against the rest of the BIG.
December 1st, 2023 at 7:24 AM ^
Will be interesting to see the ratings for Georgia/Alabama Championship Saturday
December 1st, 2023 at 7:57 AM ^
To nitpick - these are audience sizes. The rating is the percentage of TV households watching.
December 1st, 2023 at 8:01 AM ^
How many commercials does that represent?
December 1st, 2023 at 8:00 PM ^
That new york TV audience really paying off, it would seem
December 2nd, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^
And you can see why FOX was willing to pony up a bit more for the Pac-12 teams. Brands matter. Adding Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA will make the first couple of picks each week much more compelling, which is what they care about. And Michigan will get some of those games, which is what I care about.