Miami is the Most Watched ACC Group This Season and a Prime 10 TV Scores Generator Nationally

Faculty Soccer TV scores matter. Quite a bit. Convention re-alignment is way from over, and the Large Ten and the SEC should not accepting new applications except the varsity (i.e. soccer workforce) strikes the needle on the convention’s TV scores in order that the convention can negotiate extra profitable TV offers. Even setting apart realignment, the ACC in all chance will probably be switching to a disproportionate income sharing mannequin that favors the groups incomes the very best TV scores as a part of the ACC’s anticipated settlement of the Clemson and Florida State lawsuits.

Figuring out who’s the ‘most watched’ faculty soccer workforce will not be a straight-forward endeavor. For starters, some networks don’t report their scores to Nielsen – most notably the SECN (which broadcast Vanderbilt’s upset of Alabama), the ACCN (which confirmed SMU v. Pittsburgh when each had been ranked), and NBC’s streaming service Peacock (which carried Notre Dame v. Louisville in addition to Oregon v. Michigan). Moreover, CBS had a dispute with Nielsen mid-season, so now we have no scores for then No. 13 USC beating Wisconsin. So there’s just a few asterisks to this train primarily based on lacking knowledge.

One other caveat is that sure conferences seem on community TV extra usually than others. Ben Huddleston at Sports activities Media Watch posted a wonderful breakdown of how networks choose what video games they carry every week. It’s an intensive article and price a learn in case you ever puzzled why Miami continually performs at midday and nearly solely on ABC or ESPN. However for functions of this article, what issues is realizing that community protection (ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox) will on common have a lot larger viewership than video games carried on cable channels (ESPN, FS1, BTN, SECN, ACCN). The exception is CW – no one watches the CW. However that’s the reason when networks are choosing the TV slots, Disney will put the three video games it thinks will draw probably the most views on ABC, with the ESPN household of networks getting the leftovers. Thus, the highest 27 highest rated contests had been proven on a community channel, and solely 6 of the highest 50 video games had been on ESPN (none had been on one other cable community). The ACC and the Large XII solely get one, perhaps two community video games per week whereas the Large Ten and the SEC all the time get two community video games typically three.

All that is to say, it’s inaccurate and albeit lazy to make any conclusions from a submit on X.com of an inventory of whole viewers for the season as a result of it essentially excludes dozens of video games, significantly from the ACC as a result of many ACC video games are proven on ACCN and Peacock. To essentially get a way as to which groups are the most important draw, it’s important to have a look at extra nuanced comparisons between the video games. Most significantly, the time and community the sport was proven. Who’s getting the perfect Friday night time scores, or Late (10pm ET or later) scores, or ESPN primetime scores? Can a workforce command excessive scores despite the fact that it’s a weak opponent? Will the workforce nonetheless get excessive scores despite the fact that they’ve been shedding and slid down the polls, or began the season unranked however have risen up the polls?

While you begin breaking the TV scores down by completely different metrics, there are three inescapable conclusions this season: 1) Miami is probably the most watched workforce within the ACC; and a pair of) apart from Colorado, Miami is probably the most watched workforce exterior the Energy 2 SEC and Large Ten; and three) Miami can be a robust add for both the SEC or Large Ten as one of many prime 10 viewership attracts this season.

Prime 50 Most Watched Video games (by Week 11)

Though it excludes a number of video games that probably would had made this record, let’s at the very least begin with the Prime 50 most watched video games of the 2024 faculty soccer season. Right here’s the record:

As highlighted, Miami seems 4 occasions and its opening weekend defeat of Florida is its highest rated recreation. Right here’s an inventory of groups who’ve appeared in at the very least two of those prime rated video games.

Robert Weaver

Miami is just one of 10 groups to have participated in at the very least 4 of those highest rated video games. Florida State appeared twice, however not for the reason that Seminoles misplaced their preseason prime 10 rating. Georgia Tech appeared twice once they performed Miami and Florida State. The opposite ACC groups to seem had been Clemson once they performed Georgia, Boston Faculty in Florida State’s different early season contest, and Virginia Tech in addition to Louisville once they every performed Miami.

Level being is that whereas excessive ranked SEC and Large Ten groups play one another and appeal to huge scores, Miami is over right here enjoying unranked groups and nonetheless attracting excessive viewership numbers . By comparability, consensus number one ranked Oregon solely seems on this record as soon as when it performed Ohio State. As one other instance, the Florida Gators additionally appeared in 4 of those video games however solely once they’re enjoying a prime ranked workforce (Texas, Georgia, Miami, and Texas A&M).

Already it ought to be clear that Miami is simply probably the most watched ACC workforce this yr, and is at the very least within the dialog for prime 10 most watched groups within the nation, however let’s dig a bit deeper.

Friday Evening TV Scores

Certainly one of Miami’s most enjoyable contests this yr was its comeback towards unranked Virginia Tech on a Friday night time. Friday night time scores are attention-grabbing at the very least as a result of Fox made an enormous gamble to drop WWE Smackdown in favor of faculty soccer. So the large Friday night time recreation is normally a Large XII or Large Ten matchup proven on Fox, which as mentioned above is normally going to have a leg up on scores over ESPN and different cable networks. Miami v. Virginia Tech was carried on ESPN, and right here’s how that’s in comparison with different Friday night time contests:

Robert Weaver

Certainly one of this stuff will not be like the opposite…

As defined earlier, the Fox broadcasts are going to typically get larger scores than ESPN broadcasts because of their larger viewership bases. However sitting there at quantity two is Miami v. Virginia Tech, behind solely Nebraska vs. Illinois when each groups had been ranked. If the Virginia Tech recreation was performed on Fox or ABC, little doubt it will prime this record.

Late Evening TV Scores (10pm ET or later kickoff)

One other level of comparability is Miami’s late night time thriller towards California. The matchup attracted Faculty Gameday to Berkeley, CA for the primary time. How did it fare for TV scores?

Robert Weaver

So to begin with, kudos to Colorado. Whereas Colorado’s viewership scores have tailed off a bit from final yr, Coach Prime and his two Heisman candidates are nonetheless one of the watched groups within the nation.

Setting apart the Buffs, Miami’s late night time comeback towards Cal was corresponding to final weekend’s Holy Conflict in addition to a Friday USC recreation on community Fox that was led in by Recreation 1 of the World Sequence (that includes the Los Angeles Dodgers). Not too shabby. Miami even outdrew UCLA v. Oregon, two of the characteristic groups to hitch the Large Ten this yr.

The Miami v. Cal recreation was additionally the very best rated ESPN recreation that week regardless of the late kickoff. Miami v. Cal outdrew Clemson v. FSU (1.41M viewers) which aired on primetime and served because the Miami v. Cal lead-in. How wonderful is that contemplating that Clemson and FSU are those suing to depart the ACC. LOL!

Additionally value noting will not be a single ACC workforce surpassed the 1 million viewership mark for late night time video games. Cal’s week 3 contest towards San Diego St. was the closest with 938k.

ESPN Broadcast Video games

Okay, so Miami excelled at ‘bizarre’ time video games higher than just about everybody not named Colorado. One other nice comparability is video games on ESPN. Disney has contracts with ACC, SEC, and Large XII – so that you received’t see any Large Ten groups on this record except it was a non-conference recreation. Additionally, Disney will put what it believes would be the three most watched video games on ABC earlier than filling out the ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/SECN/ACCN lineup as a result of, as mentioned above, ABC can have the next base viewership platform than will ESPN.

Nonetheless, ESPN aired a number of attention-grabbing matchups this yr together with SEC contests like Florida v. Tennessee, Ole Miss v. Oklahoma, and Texas A&M v. Arkansas. Miami had 5 video games on ESPN this yr: USF (night slot), FSU (night slot), Georgia Tech (midday slot), Virginia Tech (Friday night slot), and Cal (late night time slot). Right here’s how their scores in contrast:

Robert Weaver

Some key observations from this record:

• Each single considered one of Miami’s video games attracted at the very least a 1.24M viewership quantity, the bottom being the USF blowout. No different ACC workforce can boast the identical (FSU drew 887K for its Cal recreation, and Clemson drew 1M for its Stanford recreation), and only a few different groups within the nation can argue that.
• Solely six ESPN aired video games exceeded 3M viewers and Miami performed in two of them. The others had been Week 1 upsets, or close to upsets, of Florida State and Colorado; Colorado enjoying a ranked Kansas St. workforce; and storied rivalry Tennessee versus Florida which was performed into OT.
• Miami and Clemson each performed Florida State within the ESPN primetime slot, however Miami’s victory outdrew Clemson’s 1.53M to 1.41M.
• Apart from the early season FSU video games, no different ACC workforce is coming shut to Miami. Miami’s huge video games are dwarfing essential ACC video games like beforehand ranked Georgia Tech and Notre Dame (1.59M viewers), Clemson v. Louisville (1.43M viewers), and Louisville v. SMU (1.41M viewers).
• When it comes to evaluating Miami to SEC groups, give credit score the place credit score is because of Alabama. There’s a transparent apples-to-apples comparability with Miami as they each performed USF in September on ESPN primetime, and Alabama outdrew Miami 2.58M to 1.24M. Apart from Alabama, Miami compares very favorably to each different SEC workforce that performed on ESPN. Miami twice outdrew sturdy SEC contests like: No. 6 Tennessee needing additional time to beat Florida (3.25M); Oklahoma main No. 10 Ole Miss at halftime (2.6M); and one loss Missouri erasing an 11 level fourth quarter deficit towards Auburn (2.45M).

Community Broadcast Video games

Alright, let’s evaluate Miami to the ‘huge boy’ video games. Miami appeared on ABC 3 times this yr towards Florida within the 3:30pm slot in addition to towards Louisville and Duke within the midday slot.

The above “Prime 50” video games already captures many of the community video games, so let’s have a look at these three video games from a unique perspective: what these video games had been ranked on every week they had been performed.

Robert Weaver

Robert Weaver

Robert Weaver

Quick observations for these three video games:

• The highest drawing video games every week concerned extremely ranked groups going through off with one another (which is why these charts embrace every groups’ rankings on the time of the sport). Miami performed unranked groups every time, however nonetheless delivered very sturdy TV scores particularly in comparison with different ranked groups enjoying unranked opponents.
• Miami’s Week 1 blowout of Florida within the ABC 3:30pm slot compares nicely to Georgia’s two landing defeat of Florida in the identical ABC 3:30pm slot in Week 8. Miami and Florida drew 6.35M whereas Georgia and Florida drew 6.97M.
• Miami’s Week 8 recreation towards Louisville was a really distant third to the 2 huge SEC video games that week, however Miami nonetheless attracted extra views than Fox’s “Large Midday” recreation of No. 16 Indiana versus Nebraska in addition to the ranked matchups of Michigan v. Illinois aired within the afternoon by CBS (though the monster numbers of Alabama v. Tennessee probably damage the Michigan v. Illinois scores).
• Like Michigan v. Illinois in Week 8, Miami’s Week 10 matchup towards Duke undoubtedly took successful being throughout from the highest recreation of the week of then No. 3 Penn St. v. No. 4 Ohio St. Nonetheless, Miami v. Duke outdrew the perfect that the Large XII may muster in addition to Clemson v. Louisville on ESPN within the afternoon timeslot.

Three Key Takeaways

1) Miami is probably the most watched workforce within the ACC. That is indeniable. Florida State obtained an early season scores increase because of: a) enjoying with an undeserved preseason prime 10 rating; and b) enjoying its first two matchups with zero video games reverse it (Georgia Tech was a Week 0 matchup and Boston Faculty was on a Monday night time). As soon as Florida State’s slide started, the Seminoles viewership scores plummeted. Additionally in Week 1, Clemson delivered a monster score getting blown out by Georgia, however has but to ship any scores remotely near that despite the fact that they saved a good rating within the polls. Clemson’s upset by Louisville in ESPN primetime solely drew 1.43M viewers; in contrast California’s close to upset of Miami at 2 within the friggin morning drew 1.92M viewers. Compared after comparability, Miami is clearly the highest drawing ACC workforce this season and it’s not even shut.

2) Miami is probably the most watched workforce exterior the Large Ten and SEC (besides Colorado). As mentioned above, Colorado will get credit score for its excessive scores, however would Colorado’s draw proceed after Deion Sanders leaves? Extremely unlikely. No different Large XII or Group of 5 workforce deserves dialogue. And by the best way, YES I’m together with Notre Dame on this assertion. Due to Notre Dame’s NBC contract, the Irish discover themselves on community TV far more usually than Miami, and but Miami managed to ship extra excessive viewership video games. A superb level of comparability was Notre Dame’s comfy win over Stanford in Week 7. That recreation was NBC’s afternoon lead-in to Oregon v. Ohio State that night, however the Notre Dame v. Stanford recreation solely drew 1.87M. That’s lower than Miami’s community matchup towards Duke (1.96M) and late-night thriller towards Cal (1.92M). Notre Dame has to its credit score a robust 7.92M score in its opening week, primetime matchup towards Texas A&M which is admittedly higher than Miami v. Florida (6.35M) however once more, don’t neglect that Miami is producing sturdy scores regardless of enjoying unranked groups. When the comparisons are apples-to-apples, Miami is outperforming Notre Dame this season.

3) Miami Could be a Very Sturdy Scores Addition to Both the Large Ten or the SEC

When Miami is at the very least respectable, it’s the strongest score generator that both the Large Ten or the SEC may add in convention realignment. This isn’t to recommend that Miami is the strongest scores generator in the entire nation – Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State have staked themselves because the strongest scores turbines this season. The highest 5 highest scores video games embrace at the very least considered one of these groups. Any workforce that performs these three additionally will get an enormous score increase. Within the SEC there are different groups like LSU, Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Texas which might be additionally very sturdy scores turbines which have affordable arguments for being greater attracts than Miami, however with out Miami having but performed a prime workforce it’s robust to say with certainty. Certain every of these SEC groups had been a part of video games that drew larger scores than Miami, however once you evaluate apples-to-apples, Miami v. Florida (6.35M) scores smoked Texas A&M v. Florida (4.8M), Texas v. Florida (3.96M), and Tennessee v. Florida (3.35M). The Large Ten is a bit tougher to check with Miami, however no one aside from Ohio State is clearly outdrawing Miami. Oregon is likely to be ranked atop the AP Ballot, however except for their Ohio State matchup their scores have been pretty unimpressive. The truth is, Michigan might be the second greatest scores draw contemplating it hasn’t been a CFP contender for many of the yr and but nonetheless earned stable TV scores towards unranked Washington (4.04M viewers) and Minnesota (3.6M viewers).

Throughout your complete nation, it’s robust to argue that 9 groups would positively outdraw Miami for TV scores in 2024 if the Hurricanes had been recurrently enjoying on broadcast TV towards ranked groups within the Large Ten or the SEC. In case you had been to place Miami within the Large Ten or the SEC it will be scores dynamite. From the attitude of potential to attract viewers, Miami would at the very least be on par with Oklahoma, USC, and Oregon, all of whom earned invitations to the Large 2 starting this yr.

When, not if, there may be one other spherical of convention realignment, each the SEC and the Large Ten need to strongly take into account luring Miami. The purpose of realignment is all the time to spice up the convention’s TV score worth, and Miami has confirmed that it’s the best choice to take action. Within the interim, Miami ought to welcome the push by FSU and Clemson to distribute ACC media rights income by viewership scores.