Georgia Bulldogs Continue to Soar in TV Ratings - Snagging Nearly 9 Million vs. Clemson
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ATHENS - The Georgia Bulldogs continue to be one of the biggest TV draws in college football.
No. 5 Georgia’s 10-3 win over No. 3 Clemson Saturday night on ABC was the largest audience for the opening weekend of college football in the last four years. It is also the second-highest viewership for an Saturday football game on opening weekend in the last 20 years, Disney said on Wednesday. Nearly nine million viewers (8,863,000) tuned in to the game. It is the 15th-most watched game featuring the Bulldogs this century. It is one of the top five most-viewed regular season games for ABC in the last five years.
It is another strong showing for a UGA-Clemson matchup. The 2013 game, also on ABC in primetime, drew 8,140,000 viewers. A year later Georgia’s blowout win over the Tigers in Athens drew 3,950,000 viewers on ESPN during an early evening contest.
ESPN public relations said in a tweet on Sunday that 2021 Georgia-Clemson was “on track to become the 2nd-most-viewed Kickoff Saturday game on any network in 15 years.” Early numbers, known as fast nationals, indicated that the game was watched by 7,998,000 viewers.
But that number is not a complete number as it did not account for streaming or so-called out-of-home viewing.
Disney added the following about Georgia-Clemson:
“The top-five faceoff between Georgia and Clemson averaged 8,863,000 viewers, making the matchup the second-most-viewed Kickoff Saturday game in the past 20 years (Florida State vs. Alabama, 2017). The contest ranks in the top five regular season college football games on ABC the past five years.
Peaking with 9.7 million viewers, the game’s audience was up 29 percent from the comparable game (Oregon vs. Auburn, 2019) and 95 percent from the Week 1 Saturday primetime game (Alabama vs. Louisville) in 2018.”
UGA games over 8 million viewers since 2007
28.4 M - UGA-Alabama, 2018 CFPNCG - ESPN
26.9 M - UGA-Oklahoma, 2018 Rose Bowl Game - ESPN
17.5 M - UGA-Alabama, 2018 SECCG - CBS
16.2 M - UGA-Alabama, 2012 SECCG - CBS
13.7 M - UGA-LSU, 2019 SECCG - CBS
13.4 M - UGA-Auburn, 2017 SECCG - CBS
13.3 M - UGA-Texas, 2019 Sugar Bowl - ESPN
12.0 M - UGA-LSU, 2011 SECCG - CBS
11.9 M - UGA-Hawaii, 2008 Sugar Bowl - FOX
11.0 M - UGA-Nebraska, 2013 Capital One Bowl - ABC
10.8 M - UGA-Michigan State, 2009 Capital One Bowl - ABC
10.2 M - UGA-Baylor, 2020 Sugar Bowl - ESPN
9.6 M - UGA-Alabama, 2020 - CBS
9.3 M - UGA-Notre Dame, 2019 - CBS
8.9 M - UGA-Clemson, 2021 - ABC
8.7 M - UGA-Cincinnati, 2021 Peach Bowl - ESPN
8.2 M - UGA-Auburn, 2010 - CBS
8.2 M - UGA-Michigan State, 2012 Outback Bowl - ABC
8.1 M - UGA-Clemson, 2013 - ABC
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