Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Over the weekend, FOX Sports presented a pivotal Big Ten conference matchup between the Indiana Hoosiers and Ohio State Buckeyes on its Big Noon Saturday broadcast property. The showdown, which resulted in a 38-15 win for the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes, accounted for the most-watched college football game of the week on any network with an average of 9.32 million viewers.
This game peaked at 10.52 million viewers from the 1:15 to 1:30 p.m. EST quarter-hour on FOX. As a whole, viewership for the game was up 38% over last year’s Big Noon Saturday average on the network, which was approximately 6.74 million viewers. Play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson, analyst Joel Klatt and sideline reporter Jenny Taft were on the call for the matchup from Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Viewership data for the FOX College Football broadcasts is measured by Nielsen Media Research.
Preceding the Big Ten matchup was the broadcast of Big Noon Kickoff live from The Ohio State University, featuring host Rob Stone and analysts Brady Quinn, Mark Ingram II, Matt Leinart, Urban Meyer. Moreover, the contributions on the show emanated from sports wagering expert Chris “The Bear” Fallica, reporter Tom Rinaldi and insider Bruce Feldman. For this Week 13 edition of the show attained an average of 2.3 million viewers, rendering its most-watched episode of the 2024 college football season.
Later in the day, FOX broadcast the upset win for the Kansas Jayhawks over the Colorado Buffaloes from Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The matchup averaged 6.22 million viewers, a 119% increase from last year’s average viewership of approximately 2.84 million for Big 12 Conference on FOX. Furthermore, the game was the third most-watched college football matchup of the week on any network. Play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti, analyst Brock Huard and sideline reporter Allison Williams were on the call for the game.
