Three Friday night games will kill the ratings for extra ACC $$$$
Friday night ACC football does not rate anywhere near Thursday or Saturday. It’s the weakest of the three windows with a lower national interest.
Thursday night ACC numbers usually draw 750K-1.5M viewers
Saturday usually draws 1-4M viewers depending on ACC team (mid tier ACC matchups get 1M while Clemson, FSU, Miami can get 4M)
Friday night games get 500-600K. Last year, the NC State game got 578K viewers.
You won't get the bonus ACC money for playing on Friday nights.
31 Replies
6mo
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
seems to show that Thursday night ratings are almost never as good as the friday night ratings.
Link:
linky
(In response to this post by marcbvtgm)
9
97Hokie
6mo
against for top ACC $$ in UM and SMU. So they are in the same boat for those games.
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
E
EDGEMAN
6mo
...the ACCN on Saturday, at any ACCN time slot.
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
Friday night ratings lag behind Thursday and Saturdays
(In response to this post by EDGEMAN)
6mo
I understand that saturday ratings on any other network (probably including the CW) outperform Friday nights, but it sure seems like an espn Friday night game would outdraw any timeslot on the ACCN on Saturday.
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
Very few top 1.5 million or more.
The Accn scores are abysmal over the last several years with the noon games often around 400k or less.
I’m not sure bonus money is going to be a thing for many schools unless the product improves dramatically across the conference.
Schedules like ours don’t help much either.
Link:
Media watch data.
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
H
Hokie`79
6mo
would have more viewers than noon Saturday. For one thing, there’s fewer games at the same time and less competition to get the viewers.
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
(In response to this post by Hokie`79)
6mo
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
A college game televised on a given Friday night no more competes with a hs game than an episode of American Idol.
HS football isnt about broadcasting.
(In response to this post by BuffaloTraceHokie)
Q
QuinnVT
6mo
One less opportunity for HS kids to come experience Lane at night
(In response to this post by Techsupport)
6mo
While college football is primarily about broadcasting, there are millions of people (football loving people) who attend local Friday nigh high school football games. Millions of viewers who aren't viewing... Additionally, it takes the recruits ability to be able to watch or attend away from the schools playing.
Call me old fashioned (I coached high school for some time), but it's a sacred night for high school kids and local communities alike.
(In response to this post by Techsupport)
6mo
that conflict with nearby college games to Thursdays or Saturdays so they won’t conflict. I would say that is competing.
(In response to this post by Techsupport)
6mo
Yes, while Blacksburg/Christiansburg/Giles/Narrows all move their game, it doesn't move the needle at all nationally with TV ratings.
(In response to this post by GCHokieof91)
6mo
millions upon millions of potential viewers will be playing or watching high school football games all across the country. So yeah, it seems like that would move the needle to a certain extent.
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
...because HS football by and large is not televised.
(In response to this post by BuffaloTraceHokie)
6mo
I was speaking specifically about the sport of football.
Historically, Friday nights are for high school... Saturday's are for College... and Sunday's are for NFL. That was a good model that allowed football fans to focus in on their local communities, affiliated college, and NFL team without conflict. I tend to hold high school as the most sacred of all as that is the purest form of the sport - a place where the vast majority of kids will end their careers - a place where communities are brought together.
When College football is televised on Friday nights it messes with that mojo a little along with blocking out fans who might want to watch that football game (I tend to record the one's I want to see). Call me a purist. It's just how I see it.
(In response to this post by Techsupport)
6mo
The NFL and College football are competing for viewership space. I don't think college football competes with high school football in any direct way, except perhaps the specific high school that is local to a stadium hosting a game. Even then, people that are about high school football, which far and away, are students and family of players are going to show out no matter what. This is a generalization, and there are exceptions of course, but yes, we see this very differently.
(In response to this post by BuffaloTraceHokie)
6mo
I think I'm looking at the macro while you may be looking at the micro.
In any event, I digress. I appreciate your engagement. Part of this is me being a former coach at the high school level.
(In response to this post by Techsupport)
6mo
Friday is the new Thursday.
The key is attractive match ups
FUnny the ACC commentary on friday didnt feel the same way, even Mr Royal was happy
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
basing that on? I personally only know of one place to find ratings (linked), and it's all infographics so it's not easy to extract the data, but it seems to me that it completely contradicts your assertion. thursday night games in general are far outviewed by Friday games. Some examples below:
week 3
Fri 9/12 7:30p — Colorado @ Houston — 2.94M (ESPN)
Thu 9/11 7:30p — NC State @ Wake Forest — 1.18M (ESPN)
week 4
Fri 9/19 8:00p — Iowa @ Rutgers — 3.01M (FOX)
Fri 9/19 7:30p — Tulsa @ Oklahoma State — 1.57M (ESPN)
Thu 9/18 7:30p — Rice @ Charlotte — 671K (ESPN)
week 5 (from here on out it's manual cause ChatGPT wouldn't parse any more images for me today haha)
thurs army ecu 891k
fri houston ore st 1.55m
fri fsu/uva 4.39m
week 6
no thursday made the cut, friday games got 749k for charlotte/usf and 1.41m for wvu/byu
week 7
2 thursday sunbelt games drew 145k and 53k, ecu tulane espn drew 576k
friday usf/north texas 1.1m
week 8
thurs tulsa/ecu espn 527k
friday unc/cal 1030pm espn 1.58m, neb/min fox 2.66m, ul/mia 3.41 m
I could keep going, but it's honestly more work than I want to do. but you can look at that link and see the same conclusions: Friday nights dramatically out rank thursday nights.
Link:
sports media watch
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
any sort of proof... They know who signs their paychecks. Of course Eddie Royal is going to appear happy, regardless of what his true opinion is.
Don't believe everything state media tells you...
(In response to this post by 1947Sunbowl)
6mo
won't get the eyes. Noon on Saturday on ACCN doesn't get many eyes either.
Key 2025 Friday/Weekend Ratings:
Georgia Tech at Colorado (Friday): 3.7 million viewers.
.
** Edited by UTPr0sim at 1/26/2026, 7:57:11 PM
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
for viewership is compared to other teams? If the game is interesting, like against Miami, it will get viewers. If VT goes into that game 8-2 people will watch.
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
6mo
It drew a massive audience for that window: it peaked at 4.4 million viewers, making it ESPN’s 2nd most‑watched Friday night game since 2018. #2 that year was VT/NC State that hit 600K. That is a huge difference.
(In response to this post by UtProsim4Life)
6mo
I think fans need to, again, adjust our perception of these things. Personally, I agree with BuffaloTraceHokie that Friday night "should" belong to high school football, but traditions are rarely respected when dollars are involved. I think we can certainly make the games intriguing to a broad audience if we are: 1. winning games, 2. an interesting team to watch, and 3. lean into the "aura" of our HC. Regardless of what people think of him, a fair number of college football fans do think of him. That means they may likely tune in to our games.
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)