NBC Sports’ Big Ten football games draw 3 million viewers
Several million people tuned in each week this fall to watch a Stamford-based broadcaster’s coverage of some of the biggest matchups in one of the top conferences in college football.
NBC Sports aired 11 primetime Big Ten conference games this season, garnering an average audience of 3 million viewers, according to data provided by NBC Sports. Those matches comprised the first year of a seven-year plan worth $7 billion for NBC Sports, Fox and CBS to carry the conference’s football and basketball games. The viewership will likely grow in the near future, as the division prepares to add several powerhouse programs next year.
“This fall’s Big Ten football season was NBC Sports’ firstever partnership with a college football conference and the first time that Big Ten football had a dedicated weekly primetime game on a national broadcast network,” Jon Miller, NBC Sports’ president of acquisitions and partnerships, said in a written statement. “By all accounts, it was a very successful debut.”
The most-watched Big Ten game this season on NBC Sports’ platforms — which include the NBC network and the Peacock streaming service — was Ohio State’s 24-10 defeat of Wisconsin on Oct. 28, a game that attracted 4.9 million viewers. The most-watched college football game this season was another Big Ten game, but one carried by Fox. An average of more than 19 million viewers watched Michigan beat Ohio State 30-24 on Nov. 25, the latest edition of arguably the biggest rivalry in college football.
At the same time, NBC Sports continued to broadcast Notre Dame football games, a partnership that started in 1991. The six Notre Dame matches that NBC Sports carried this season averaged 4.5 million viewers, marking NBC Sports’ best season average for Notre Dame football since 2020. The Fighting Irish’s 17-14 loss against Ohio State on Sept. 23 averaged 10.6 million viewers, ranking as NBC Sports’ second-most watched regular season college football game of all-time.
While NBC Sports’ Big Ten viewership did not match the most-watched games this season, “much of that may be due to the public’s habit of tuning in to those other networks for their college football and to some of the lesser games NBC was assigned,” Daniel Durbin, director of the Institute of Sports, Media & Society at the University of Southern California, said in an email. “The numbers are excellent compared to most anything else they would broadcast, and I think they will get better as better games and viewer habit builds larger and larger viewership.”
Josh Shuart, director of sports management at Sacred Heart University’s Jack Welch College of Business & Technology, gave a similar assessment.
“I would rate the first season as a resounding success. NBC always delivers in terms of quality of coverage,” Shuart said in an email. “And the viewership numbers should be examined from a variety of angles. For the most part, the ratings were good.”
Much of the optimism about NBC Sports’ prospects as a Big Ten broadcaster stems from the conference’s upcoming expansion. Next year, the Big Ten will add four west coast schools that are leaving the Pac-12 conference: Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.
“Bringing in a lightning rod team like USC along with its natural rival UCLA creates more interest in the conference,” Durbin said. “Of course, there will also be the initial interest from the novelty of the games. So, I think it is all a win for NBC.”
Including the newcomers, 18 teams will play Big Ten football next season. The closest Big Ten school to Connecticut is Rutgers, whose football team plays its home games in Piscataway, N.J.
“We expect our Big Ten schedule will be even stronger next season, as the four marquee west coast programs joining the conference are ideally situated to have their home games in primetime on NBC and Peacock,” Miller said.
In the meantime, one current Big Ten team and one of the upcoming arrivals will compete in the College Football Playoff semifinals on Jan. 1. Big Ten champion Michigan will face SEC conference champion Alabama, while Washington will take on Big 12 champion Texas. Those games will air on ESPN, which is based in Bristol.
NBC Sports’ Big Ten coverage will continue this winter in another popular sport. In the 2023-24 season, more than 50 Big Ten men’s and women’s basketball games are being streamed exclusively on Peacock.