Vespidae
Helluva Engineer
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- 5,253
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- Auburn, AL
Rather than look at one game, look at the number of Nielsen appearances and the average viewership. That‘s how value is determined.You're a college professor, I believe. Given that, you know that numbers need to be put into proper context.
Last season Tech had two games on OTA networks or the ESPN mothership...Clemson and UGa. The Clemson game drew 1.62M for a noon start on ABC, which is not good compared to the normal ABC noon game, which drew a median of 2.46M. However, it was up against the Michigan/Penn St game on Fox, which drew 9.16M viewers. Three times Fox got a huge audience for their noon starts, the three game round-robin between Michigan/Ohio St/Penn St. Each of those weeks the ABC noon game took a deep dive. So, maybe Tech "diluted" the viewership number, but more likely Penn St/Michigan diluted the viewership number. The UGa game was a 7:30 start, and it drew 5.33M viewers. That was the highest viewership that ABC had for any Saturday night game all season. I think we all would acknowledge that most were tuned in to see UGa, but I don't think you can say that Tech "diluted" the viewership of that game either.
I'm not saying we are an incredible television draw, we were, after all, only on OTA networks or the ESPN mothership two times, but I don't see anything in the numbers that say we "dilute" viewership.
It is historically low. I hate to break it you, but Tech does not drive ratings. And they have not appeared on a lot of Nielsen networks. Low appearances and low ratings per appearance. Not great.
The way media rights work, Tech’s numbers dilute the total reported conference numbers. That’s simply a fact. I know you don’t like it, so take it up with ESPN/Fox/NBC etc.
A benefit to Tech is that they are not on Nielsen rated networks very often and that’s good, because those numbers are excluded from the calculation. So Tech vs Duke on the ACCN really doesn’t matter. Tech v Georgia on ABC does.
Ask yourself each week, “What is the best matchup, that will appeal to the greatest number of Nielsen viewers?”
I’m not judging one way or another, but simply trying to explain things In a way that might be useful. One thing I find with this forum is a tendency to be an echo chamber and I encourage you to think for yourself. Not everything presented here is factually correct.
A final note. Yes, I teach college. I find that a number of posters here have personally insulted me as a hack for teaching and thats fine. I think it says more about them than me. But I am semi retired. Prior to teaching, I ran a half billion dollar company with operations in 180 countries. I’m not bragging, but I think I have the contacts (including the former chairman of Nielsen) and experience to bring a perspective you might value. If you don’t, just read it and discard it and do your own thing.