Ratings Roundup: NBC Sees Uptick for Kelly’s Notre Dame Debut

Although Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame debut provided a significant ratings jump for NBC, the Irish’s 23-12 win over Purdue was still well below pre-Charlie Weis standards. NBC posted a 2.3 overnight rating for Saturday’s telcast, which was up 77% (1.3) from last season, but was still the second lowest mark since at least 1997 (when overnight ratings became available). The opener reflects NBC’s hope of a recovery, however, as Notre Dame’s audience was up slightly in 2009, after falling more than 20% during the first four seasons of Weis’ 5-year reign.

ESPN’s 1.6 U.S. rating for the Southern Miss-South Carolina 2010 college football opener on Thursday was down 24% from last season. The 2.5 million viewers that tuned in, was 23% less than 2009’s South Carolina-North Carolina State opener last year (2.1, 3.3 million). The game was, however, up 7% and 4%, respectively, from N.C. State-South Carolina in 2008 (1.5, 2.4 million).

The Little League World Series Championship Game notched a 2.0 final rating with 3.04 million viewers on ABC, down 17% and 21% from 2009. The Japan-Hawaii title game on Aug. 29 struggled to reel in viewers, posting the lowest rating since the late 90’s. Last season’s California-Taiwan game garnered a 2.4 and 3.9 million viewers.

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