BYU and TV ratings

I've always taken it as given that BYU has a national following which has generally led to decent TV ratings. After reading a column by Dennis Dodd about Big 12 expansion (HERE), I decided to do quick digging into BYU's ratings.



Here are a couple of baseline numbers over the past five years cited by Dodd:



WVU average TV rating: 2.6

FBS average TV rating: 2.2

Louisville average TV rating: 2.1



It wouldn't be fair to look at BYU's ratings for the past 5 years because VS, CBSCS, and MTN ratings for college football are pretty bad. What about this year, BYU's first year of independence and first year on ESPN for a long while? Should be a lot of buzz with BYU finally on the Worldwide Leader, right? According to KSL (HERE):



Ole Miss: 1.5

Texas: 1.6

Utah: 0.6

UCF: 1.6

Utah State: 1.6



I think 1.5-ish is decent with respect to our ESPN contract because BYUtv foots a lot of the production costs so ESPN only has to pay for the talent to come out for the game. And FSN/ESPN were impressed by the ratings the OSU game drew on short notice (again at little cost to FSN).



But drawing a 1.5 nationally doesn't make BYU as attractive as we as BYU fans seem to think we are in terms of national following. I'm a little surprised by these numbers--are BYU fans just not watching games or is BYU's following a lot less than we think?

Or could it the relative quality of opponent who has very few fans to help the numbers.

scott715 wrote:
Or could it the relative quality of opponent who has very few fans to help the numbers.

We couldn't pull a 2 playing Texas in a near prime time slot.

True but then is WVU better than Texas?

scott715 wrote:
Or could it the relative quality of opponent who has very few fans to help the numbers.

why look at the opponent? The home team has some "quality" issues this year.

The opponent fans should be half of the rating number.

scott715 wrote:
True but then is WVU better than Texas?

If only Texas fans watch Texas games it should pull a 2. That's the point, maybe we're the "non-quality" opponent in that one that fans of that team don't want to watch.



The Utah game is very indicative of what our fanbase/reach is. That's a game that if you're not one of the 65,000 in the stadium, you're watching on tv if you're at all interested in the program. Maybe that number dropped because it was such a lousy game (first half might be better than second half), but still that's who OUR audience is and what is brought to the rest of the games.

How do BYU games on Friday night compare with BSU games on Friday night?



Also, the Texas game was their first "real" game of the year. I'm surprised by that rating number?



I'm glad the ratings number was so low on the Utah game. Who wants high ratings for that kind of crap?

There's no incentive for other teams' fans to watch us other than it's their team playing. So, the band wagon fan or the fan that only watches the "big" games doesn't watch the games against BYU. Die hard fans represent only a fraction of any fan base; so, we don't attract as many eyeballs.



No one cares about BYU. We care about BYU and we like to think everyone cares about BYU, but the reality is we're perceived as cream puffs. I don't particularly disagree with the assumption either.



If we were ranked, were actually the ND of the West or were BCS busters similar to BSU or TCU then there would be a reason for the bandwagon fan to watch their team play BYU.

Dwight wrote:
How do BYU games on Friday night compare with BSU games on Friday night?



Also, the Texas game was their first "real" game of the year. I'm surprised by that rating number?



I'm glad the ratings number was so low on the Utah game. Who wants high ratings for that kind of crap?

"real" by who's definition. Certainly not Texas fans' definition.

Gunk wrote:

How do BYU games on Friday night compare with BSU games on Friday night?



Also, the Texas game was their first "real" game of the year. I'm surprised by that rating number?



I'm glad the ratings number was so low on the Utah game. Who wants high ratings for that kind of crap?

"real" by who's definition. Certainly not Texas fans' definition.

You kidding me? A game that requires a 2nd half come back to win by one point is a "real" game by any standard. Are you "really" going to believe that after a loosing season, Texas fans were going to ignore a home game that they were barely favored to win? I saw the look on Texas fan's faces during the 1st half, and I could swear that they realized that BYU was a "real" game.

Dwight wrote:

Dwight wrote:
How do BYU games on Friday night compare with BSU games on Friday night?



Also, the Texas game was their first "real" game of the year. I'm surprised by that rating number?



I'm glad the ratings number was so low on the Utah game. Who wants high ratings for that kind of crap?

"real" by who's definition. Certainly not Texas fans' definition.

You kidding me? A game that requires a 2nd half come back to win by one point is a "real" game by any standard. Are you "really" going to believe that after a loosing season, Texas fans where going to ignore a home game that they were barely favored to win? I saw the look on Texas fan's faces during the 1st half, and I could swear that they realized that BYU was a "real" game.

We're not talking about fans at the stadium. We're talking about fans that watch from home. There's a difference. In-game fans tend to be either students, die hards, or a friend of a die hard brought to the game.



Fans at home, are more casual, bandwagon fans - the vast majority of a fan base. They typically watch the box score and tune into the "big" games. That's it. The first "real" game of the season is completely subjective.



There are a few Texas fans at my office. They've only worn their Texas gear to work for one day and that was the day before the OU game. That was the first "real" game for them. They hadn't bothered watching any of the others to that point.



There are a lot of Stanford, UCLA, Cal and USC fans where I live. When BYU plays those teams, they could care less. They care if they lose because losing to BYU is like BYU losing to New Mexico. It just doesn't and shouldn't happen in their minds.