There was plenty of discussion when CBS chose to place the Notre Dame-Georgia game in primetime, and therefore had to leave the LSU-Alabama game at 3:30 p.m. ET. Some wondered if that might have been a mistake in terms of TV ratings and audience size.
Based on initial ratings, it appears that decision paid off.
CBS reported that the LSU-Alabama game delivered a national household rating/share of a 9.7/24, up 47 percent over last year’s 6.6/13 rating/share in primetime. The 9.7/24 is the highest-rated regular-season college football game (excluding conference championships) on any network in eight years.
LSU-Alabama scored with an average of 16.636 million viewers, and was the most-watched regular-season game between the teams since 2011 and delivered a 44 percent increase in viewership compared with last year’s primetime game (11.588 million).
The game peaked from 7:00-7:15 p.m. with 20.610 million viewers and an 11.8/26 rating/share.
The “SEC on CBS” has the two highest-rated games and most-watched games of the season, after the Notre Dame-Georgia game had 9.349 million viewers in September.
This was also the third consecutive week the marquee afternoon game has had the most-watched game of the day (Auburn-LSU, Oct. 26; Georgia-Florida, Nov. 2; LSU-Alabama, Nov. 9).
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
