Out of Home Viewership Pushes Game to 10.17 Million Viewers; Ranking Behind Only 1993’s “Game of the Century” Among Notre Dame on NBC’s 30-Year History
Notre Dame on NBC Averaging TAD of 5.27 Million Viewers Through Four Games in 2020; Best Start to Season in 15 Years
Birmingham, Greenville-Spartanburg, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Charlotte Lead Local Market Ratings
STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 10, 2020 – With Out of Home (OOH) viewership now included, Saturday night’s top-five clash between the No. 1 Clemson Tigers and the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish finished with a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 10.17 million viewers on NBC – making it the most-watched college football game of the 2020 season and the second-most watched Notre Dame on NBC game on record, based on Nielsen official national data & digital data from Adobe Analytics.
In NBC Sports’ 30-year history of broadcasting Notre Dame Football games, Clemson-Notre Dame now ranks behind only the “Game of the Century” between No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 1 Florida State in 1993 (22.02 million viewers). The Fighting Irish’s 47-40 double-overtime victory over the nation’s top-ranked team is also the most-watched ND on NBC primetime game on record.
Following are the top-five ND on NBC games:
| Date | Opponent | Viewers (000) |
| Nov. 13, 1993 | Florida State | 22.02 |
| Nov. 7, 2020 | Clemson | 10.17 |
| Sept. 10, 1994 | Michigan | 10.10 |
| Oct 15, 2005 | USC | 10.07 |
| Nov. 20, 1993 | Boston College | 9.93 |
Saturday night’s game ranks as the most-watched college football game of the season, surpassing Georgia-Alabama on Oct. 17 (9.669 million P2+), and is the most-watched regular season college football game since Alabama-Auburn on Nov. 30, 2019 (11.505 million P2+).
Through four^ games on NBC this season, Notre Dame matchups are averaging a Total Audience Delivery of 5.27 million viewers, the best start to the Notre Dame season since 2005 (four games; 6.106 million P2+).
Following are the top markets for Clemson-Notre Dame on NBC:
| Rank | Metered Market | HH Rating | Share |
| 1 | Birmingham, Al. | 24.0 | 36 |
| 2 | Greenville-Spartanburg | 22.3 | 37 |
| 3 | Indianapolis | 12.2 | 22 |
| 4 | New Orleans | 11.9 | 19 |
| 5 | Charlotte | 10.2 | 19 |
| 6 | Greensboro-High Point | 10.1 | 19 |
| 7 | Cincinnati | 9.6 | 19 |
| 8 | Louisville | 9.1 | 17 |
| 9 | Atlanta | 9.0 | 18 |
| 10 | Jacksonville | 8.8 | 16 |
*Viewership does not include the portion of the game that was interrupted on NBC by coverage of President-elect Joe Biden’s speech.
^Does not include Notre Dame-South Florida game on Sept. 19 that was televised on USA Network.
NBC Sports’ coverage of 2020 Notre Dame Football concludes on Saturday, Dec. 5, when the Fighting Irish host the Syracuse Orange at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
| REMAINING 2020 NBC NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL SCHEDULE | |||
| DATE | TIME (ET) | OPPONENT | NETWORK |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | 2:30 p.m. | Syracuse | NBC |
This year, NBC Sports Group and Notre Dame kicked off their 30th season. NBC Sports Group and the University of Notre Dame began their landmark Notre Dame Football relationship in 1991 and have renewed the partnership numerous times. The current agreement runs through the 2025 season.
--NBC SPORTS--
