‘ESPN College Football 150’ programming was consumed by 19 million unique fans on Saturday, Aug. 24, as the network’s storytelling initiative ramped up with 12 hours of content during a signature start to the sport’s 150th anniversary season.
Football is US: The College Game (10:52 p.m. – 12:21 a.m.) – the ESPN CFB150 opening documentary –reached nearly six million fans on its own.
An additional 13 million unique fans tuned into College GameDay Built by the Home Depot (9 a.m. – noon), the season’s first ESPN CFB150 Showcase Game of the Week featuring Miami vs. Florida (7 p.m.), and/or the FCS Kickoff (3 p.m.), as ESPN offered a full slate of programming to kick start this anniversary season.
“We’re thrilled with the initial response to the special content we’re providing to commemorate the sport’s 150th anniversary season,” said John Dahl, ESPN Vice President of Special Projects and Original Content. “And this is just the beginning. We have multiple new series and documentaries along with digital elements that will be continuously rolled out over the next several months, right through the College Football Playoff National Championship in January.”
ESPN College Football 150 Showcase Game Propels ESPN to Win the Night
The ESPN College Football 150 Showcase between Miami and Florida averaged 5,966,000 viewers, ESPN’s best start to a season on record and propelled ESPN to win the night across all networks.
The first prime-time game of the season was the most-viewed telecast of the day across broadcast and cable among households, viewers and all key male, female and adults demos (18-34, 18-49, 25-54).
Football is US: The College Game averaged 1,647,000 viewers and College GameDay Built averaged 1,054,000 viewers.
For GameDay, the audience was up 62% over the show’s one-hour season preview show in 2018.The FCS Kickoff between Youngstown State and Samford averaged 718,000 viewers, up 28% from last season’s FCS Kickoff game.
ESPN College Football 150 Continues Throughout Season
ESPN College Football 150 rolls out new content every day through the end of the season. Saturdays in the South: A History of SEC Football is the next documentary, with the first episode of the eight part series debuting on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at 9 p.m., on SEC Network.
The following week, The American Game (September 10) and The Greatest (September 12) will begin their weekly appearances, on Tuesdays and Thursdays respectively.
