Which college football conference was the King of College Football TV Ratings in 2023? Why SEC football of course at an average of 3.44 million viewers per game in the regular season – where “It Just Means More”. But of course, the Big Ten would ranks second, right? Well, sort of. Shockingly to me at least, in 2023 the Pac 12 finished second averaging 2.70 million viewers per game, eclipsing the Big Ten’s 2.28 million viewer average. See Exhibit 1 below. I thought the SEC and Big Ten were clearly the big dogs when it came to TV ratings and overall interest and that is why their TV contracts and payouts per team are so high.
Exhibit 1: College Football TV Ratings 2023 – Big Ten vs. Other Power 5 Conferences (in Millions)
| Old Conference | Avg. Viewers/ Team | Total Viewers | New Conference | Avg. Viewers/ Team | Total Viewers | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old SEC | 3.44 | 48.18 | New SEC | 3.44 | 55.05 | |
| 2 | Old Pac 12 | 2.70 | 32.43 | New Big Ten | 2.56 | 45.99 | |
| 3 | Old Big Ten | 2.28 | 31.98 | New Pac 12 | 2.30 | 4.59 | |
| 4 | Old ACC | 2.06 | 24.67 | New ACC | 1.89 | 28.29 | |
| 5 | Old Big 12 | 1.80 | 19.83 | New Big 12 | 1.85 | 24.07 |
https://www.actionnetwork.com/ncaaf/college-football-programs-nielsen-ratings
So, what is going on here? Do the TV execs have the numbers wrong? Was the Pac 12’s football value mis-calculated all along? Hold on their tiger, there were several one-time reasons that impacted this. First, the Pac 12 probably had their best overall football year in their existence. I don’t have the numbers to prove that but both Washington and Oregon challenged for the college football playoff all the way down to the Pac 12 championship game and played at a high level all year, with Washington losing in the CFP final.
They had the best and deepest batch of quarterbacks the league has ever seen that included 3 quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft, including the defending Heisman Trophy winner in USC’s Caleb Williams who was pursuing the first back-to-back Heisman since Ohio State’s Archie Griffin did it 49 years ago for the 1974 and 1975 Buckeyes.
2024 NFL Draft First Round QB Picks from Pac 12
- #1 Pick for Bears: USC QB Caleb Williams
- #8 pick for Falcons: Washington QB Michael Penix Jr.
- #12 pick for Broncos: Oregon QB Bo Nix
And don’t forget the Coach Prime impact at Colorado. It’s probably no surprise that across all conferences Alabama was ranked #1 in viewers at 7.12 million/game and Ohio State was #2 at 6.05 million, but who would have guessed Colorado and Coach Prime would be third highest at 6.00 million? – higher than two-time defending national champ and #4 most viewed Georgia (5.90 million) and even #5 rated National Champion Michigan (5.61 million).
But I suspect Colorado is going to have a much tougher time generating those numbers in 2014 since Colorado’s performance turned out to be disappointing and they will not have a schedule with the same marquee games they had in the Pac 12 as they will in their new home in the Big 12. Again, most of these factors would likely not repeat again in 2024.
Referring back to Exhibit 1, if you redid the Power 5 conference numbers in 2013, assuming the new 2024 conference alignments, the numbers look more like you expect. Adding Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA to the Big Ten jumps their average from 2.28M average viewers per team to 2.56M and second place to the SEC.
What other interesting takeaways does this information reveal?
The ACC came in 4th in the college football TV ratings at 2.06M average viewers but that only gets worse after adding in Stanford and California to the conference taking their average down to 1.89M in the new look ACC, but still good for 4th. In fact, if you look at the Top 20 teams for 2023 results but align them to their new 2024 conferences, the ACC only has 2 teams in the Top 20 led by Florida State in the #9 spot at 4.16M avg viewers and Clemson at #18 with 2.90M viewers.
No wonder Florida State is trying so hard to get out of the ACC, or at minimum ask for a bigger cut of the ACC TV contract revenues. They really are an anomaly in the conference and their numbers are much better than fellow ACC powers Clemson and Miami who is #22.
Coming in last in the Power 5 is the Big 12 at 1.80M avg. viewers but they will see some improvement with their Pac 12 additions up to 1.85M viewers but no matter how you look at it those numbers are not impressive. Their only top 20 school is Colorado at #3, but as mentioned before, you should expect the Buffaloes numbers to take a big dip. The next highest Big 12 team is Utah in the #25 spot.
The Big Ten has 8 teams with better viewership than Utah. The Big 12 doesn’t have a single blueblood football program anymore, but the good news is you can expect a continued, hyper competitive conference with lots of teams in the hunt. While that makes for compelling TV viewing within the conference footprint, it is not going to grab national fans attention. The Big 12’s bread and butter is going to have to be basketball.
How does the Big Ten compare to the SEC? It’s best to look at the Top 10 and Top 20 viewership to answer this one (see Exhibit 2).
Exhibit 2: Top 20 Power 5 Teams for 2023 College Football TV Ratings Assuming 2024 Conference
| Rank | School | 2023 Avg Viewers | 2024 Conference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 7.12 | SEC |
| 2 | Ohio State | 6.05 | Big Ten |
| 3 | Colorado | 6.00 | Big 12 |
| 4 | Georgia | 5.90 | SEC |
| 5 | Michigan | 5.61 | Big Ten |
| 6 | Tennessee | 4.57 | SEC |
| 7 | Oregon | 4.43 | Big Ten |
| 8 | Texas | 4.26 | SEC |
| 9 | Florida State | 4.16 | ACC |
| 10 | Washington | 4.14 | Big Ten |
| 11 | LSU | 3.79 | SEC |
| 12 | USC | 3.77 | Big Ten |
| 13 | Penn State | 3.66 | Big Ten |
| 14 | Auburn | 3.55 | SEC |
| 15 | Missouri | 3.25 | SEC |
| 16 | Florida | 3.17 | SEC |
| 17 | Ole Miss | 2.93 | SEC |
| 18 | Clemson | 2.90 | ACC |
| 19 | Texas A&M | 2.74 | SEC |
| 20 | South Carolina | 2.69 | SEC |
https://sportsnaut.com/college-football-ratings-tv-alabama/
Both the SEC and the Big Ten have 4 teams in the Top 10 for college TV ratings in 2023. This is where having true blueblood teams pays off for both conferences and is why they wield so much power. The new Big Ten has Ohio State at #2, Michigan at #5, Oregon at #7, and Washington at #10. The new SEC has Alabama at #1, Georgia at #4, Tennessee at #6, and Texas at #8.
For me, there are only 2 surprises in the Top 10. Tennessee at #6 and ahead of Texas is not what I expected, especially because Tennessee did not have a great year at 9-4 and just 4-4 in conference. But they did play the #1 and #4 highest viewed teams in Alabama and Georgia so that certainly raised their numbers. The other one is Washington at #10 over a Penn State at #13 but of course Washington just had one of their best years ever which had to give them a huge boost.
Where the SEC separates from the Big Ten though is in the 11 through 20 range. The Big Ten only added in #13 Penn State, while the SEC had a whopping 7 teams in that range including LSU, Auburn, Missouri, Florida, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and South Carolina. In sum, the SEC had 11 of the top 20, while the Big Ten had the second most but only 6 of the top 20.
This supports what I have intuitively known for a long time. The real separator for the SEC is their mid-tier teams have much stronger fan following and support over the Big Ten and all other conferences, and that likely results in stronger investments in those programs and better results. It just means more indeed.
I also think the Big Ten has West has been an anchor for the conference and it’s a mostly good thing 2024 will be the first year without divisions. The weakness of the Big Ten West has resulted in many non-competitive Big Ten title games negatively impacting interest and the all-important TV ratings (the West was 0-10 all-time vs the East in Big Ten title games).
Also, the matchups within the division were not overly compelling and were often defensive oriented snooze fests. It’s no surprise the highest rated West team in viewership was Iowa at #21 followed by Nebraska at #24. After that you must go all the way down to #41 Wisconsin to find another Big Ten West team. Two teams in the Top 40 for the Big Ten West is abysmal performance for a powerful conference like the Big Ten and I think it only supports the thesis that the mid-tier of the SEC is much better than the Big Ten.
For the 2024 season there are a lot of changes based on the new Big Ten TV contract, which was for $7 billion with NBC, FOX and CBS that started in 2023 and runs through the 2029-30 season, so I am curious how big of a positive impact that will have. Here are some of the key changes with the new TV contract:
- ESPN will no longer broadcast Big Ten football and instead focus on the SEC and Big 12
- The Big Ten will be broadcast in three prime time slots
- FOX will show the early noon marquee game as part of its “Big Noon Saturday”. FOX has choice on the best Big Ten game each week.
- CBS will now air a Big Ten game in the 3:30 pm EST slot, replacing their SEC marquee game, and this replaces the old Big Ten ABC 3:30 time slot
- NBC now has the rights to feature night games, branded Big Ten Saturday Night, on both NBC and Peacock at 7:30 pm EST
- The Big Ten Network, owned by FOX, will still broadcast Big Ten games but they likely will be games between unranked opponents
- NBC’s Peacock network will show 8 streaming-exclusive Big Ten games each season
In the end, I suspect the rich will get richer and we will the SEC and Big Ten create even more separation in TV ratings vs. the other conferences.
College Football TV Ratings – Big Jeff’s Key Takeaways
- The SEC were the kings of TV football viewership in 2023, while the Pac 12 had an all-time great year making them 2nd in viewership rankings, but it was likely unrepeatable.
- The Big Ten and SEC tied at 4 teams apiece in the Top 10 of most viewed teams in 2023 – but the mid-tiers is where the SEC is dominant over the Big Ten in viewership with 7 teams in the 11-20 rankings vs just 1 for the Big Ten – making it 11 of the Top 20 for the SEC but just 6 of the Top 20 for the Big Ten
- The Big Ten moving forward will likely be #2 in viewership led by their flagship “blueblood” programs Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, USC and Penn State – and it’s good the West division will no longer exist since it likely hampered ratings with unexciting games evidenced by their highest viewed team of Iowa at #21
- The Big 12 had the worst viewership of the Power 5, despite Colorado experiencing the Coach Prime effect in his first year at Colorado putting them 3rd overall in viewership, but no other Big 12 team finished in the Top 20 – the Big 12’s clear strength will be in basketball
- The ACC had the 2nd worst viewership of the Power 5 with Florida State their clear leader at #9 in viewership, and then only Clemson at #18 also appearing in the Top 20; this will remain a major problem as FSU will continue to want to leave the conference since they clearly are in a category all by themselves and won’t want to carry the rest of the group
The New Big 10 Football Categories – Where Does Your Team Fit?
