Big Ten Network Attracts Highest Viewership Ever – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Football games were Saturday’s most-watched across eight metered markets
CHICAGO – The Big Ten Network on Saturday set a new ratings record, beating all other afternoon football games on cable in the Big Ten region and earning its highest rating for a non-live-event program.
The noon ET football games, which featured home games at Illinois (Northern Illinois), Michigan (University of Massachusetts), Ohio State (Ohio), and Purdue (Ball State), averaged a 5.64 household rating (HH) in the eight metered markets.* The rating was 10 percent higher than last year’s Big Ten Network record of 5.1, set on Oct. 3, 2009.
In addition, the debut of Big Ten Icons, which aired later Saturday, attracted a 1.04 HH rating and was the highest rated non-event program in Big Ten Network history.
Source: Nielsen Arianna Overnights (9/18/10). Metered Markets: Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Minneapolis.
About the Big Ten Network: A joint venture between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, the Big Ten Network is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With approximately 350 live sporting events, and nearly all of them in HD, the network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. The network operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, showcasing a wide array of classic-to-current sports and televising more Olympic sporting events and women’s sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation’s finest universities. Each year, the network offers between 35 and 40 football games, 105 regular season men’s basketball games; 55 women’s basketball games; dozens of Big Ten Championship events; studio shows; coaches’ shows; and classic games. The network is available to more than 75 million homes across the United States and Canada, and currently has agreements with more than 300 affiliates, including AT&T U-Verse, Atlantic Broadband, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox (Cleveland, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Omaha), DirecTV, DISH Network, Insight, Mediacom, Rogers Cable (Canada), Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct (Canada), Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS. For updated information on the Big Ten Network, go to www.BigTenNetwork.com.
