Illini Football 2024

#101      
pruman91
I'm still smiling about the Friday night victory by the Illini..........even with my vertigo acting up.....................it's all good Illini Nation.....
It really really is......................

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#102      
ChiefGritty
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Yeah, that will definitely dilute it a little, but as you said ... there will still be a ton of viewers. I'm still trying to make up my mind 100% about this, but I question what percentage of each game's viewers are from the following buckets:

1. Team A's fans
2. Team B's fans
3. Casual fans who intentionally tuned into that matchup
4. Casual fans who wandered onto that channel and/or were just always going to watch a game on that channel
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I think the data is pretty clear that the viewership, at least in terms of the top games that cross the 2-3 million threshold and above, follow the "best" games of two highly ranked teams playing each other, more than just having huge fanbases or network slots dictate the viewership. The biggest brands playing less interesting opponents come in well behind the best games of the week.

Games that look appealing on paper to the general college football fan get premium TV slots and generate big audiences.

The trouble this specific game will run into is that Bama-Georgia is SO big (I bet it beats Texas-Michigan's season-topping 9M, but we'll see) that it's going to vulture away a lot of general college football fans who would otherwise choose our game. It'll be over 2M though I'm sure.

Fighter of the Nightman said:
It would be fascinating to try to guess, though I am sure it varies depending on the channel, game time and matchup. As for your second point, it is difficult for me to remember how hyped people were at that point in 2008. I know we were still ranked and thought we would be good, but I vaguely remember some worrying after our very close 20-17 win at home vs. Louisiana-Lafayette the week before!
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In terms of hype and excitement in August versus hype and excitement going into the early trip to Happy Valley, 2008 and 2024 are on totally opposite trajectories.
 
#103      
aaeismacgychel
ChiefGritty said:
I think the data is pretty clear that the viewership, at least in terms of the top games that cross the 2-3 million threshold and above, follow the "best" games of two highly ranked teams playing each other, more than just having huge fanbases or network slots dictate the viewership. The biggest brands playing less interesting opponents come in well behind the best games of the week.

Games that look appealing on paper to the general college football fan get premium TV slots and generate big audiences.

The trouble this specific game will run into is that Bama-Georgia is SO big (I bet it beats Texas-Michigan's season-topping 9M, but we'll see) that it's going to vulture away a lot of general college football fans who would otherwise choose our game. It'll be over 2M though I'm sure.


In terms of hype and excitement in August versus hype and excitement going into the early trip to Happy Valley, 2008 and 2024 are on totally opposite trajectories.
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My gut feel is viewership will be about as high as the Nebraska game even with the Alabama-Georgia going on. While I think the entire South of the country will be focused on Bama-Georgia, I think most of B10 country, North, Midwest, and a good portion if the mid Atlantic, and west will tune into Illinois-PSU so long as it's competitive. If PSU goes up big, they'll change the channel, but if it's a close game, I think the post halftime numbers will be massive as the average fan will be watching for the upset possibility. Put me in the this game will still get 4M viewers category
 
#104      
Dkayak
Question on viewership data. How do they account for number of viewers per screen, e.g. a sports bar vs my wife and I at home? Or maybe they count screens rather than viewers?
 
#106      
Fighter of the Nightman
Dkayak said:
Question on viewership data. How do they account for number of viewers per screen, e.g. a sports bar vs my wife and I at home? Or maybe they count screens rather than viewers?
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Not sure and a great question!

Back to last week, though, Illinois/Nebraska was the third most watched game of the whole weekend. Considering that it was on Friday night (traditionally materially lower than Saturday games) and some of the intriguing matchups and/or big brands playing on Saturday, that is mighty impressive.

6.32 million for #11 USC at #18 Michigan (CBS)
6.27 million for #6 Tennessee at #15 Oklahoma (ABC)
4.21 million for #24 Illinois at #22 Nebraska
3.96 million for Marshall at #3 Ohio State (FOX)
3.64 million for Baylor at Colorado (FOX)
2.73 million for UCLA at #16 LSU (ABC)
2.64 million for Florida at Mississippi State (ESPN)
2.14 million for #12 Utah at #14 Oklahoma State (FOX)
2.02 million for Arkansas at Auburn (ESPN)
1.95 million for NC State at #21 Clemson (ABC)
 
#107      
Fighter of the Nightman
ChiefGritty said:
I think the data is pretty clear that the viewership, at least in terms of the top games that cross the 2-3 million threshold and above, follow the "best" games of two highly ranked teams playing each other, more than just having huge fanbases or network slots dictate the viewership. The biggest brands playing less interesting opponents come in well behind the best games of the week.

Games that look appealing on paper to the general college football fan get premium TV slots and generate big audiences...
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This was kind of my hunch, as well. "Big brands" draw horribly on bad networks (albeit maybe slightly better than "small brands" in the same slot), and exciting matchups draw well on big-time channels. Just looking at the list from this past Saturday I posted, it's kind of interesting to think about the ratings from that perspective. Nebraska/Illinois, USC/Michigan, Tennessee/Oklahoma, Utah/Oklahoma State, etc. were just exciting matchups, period. However, I'm guessing if you switched USC/Michigan (CBS) with Utah/Oklahoma State (FOX), the ratings would flip-flop, as well ... in other words, there are way more people that comprise the "base" of viewers who will tune into a Michigan or USC game than an Oklahoma State or Utah game.

I DO think, though, that there are very few teams that can drive ratings just by themselves. And I am not sure there are ANY fan bases so large that they can overtake an exciting matchup or a channel that just simply draws well. Put Marshall/Ohio State on BTN, and it's not outdrawing an exciting matchup on FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC or ESPN, period ... no matter how "huge" Ohio State's fan base is.
 
#108      
ChiefGritty
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I DO think, though, that there are very few teams that can drive ratings just by themselves. And I am not sure there are ANY fan bases so large that they can overtake an exciting matchup or a channel that just simply draws well. Put Marshall/Ohio State on BTN, and it's not outdrawing an exciting matchup on FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC or ESPN, period ... no matter how "huge" Ohio State's fan base is.
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Yeah, I mean it's not "very few" as much as "none".

Which kind of answers your original question. The lion's share of the viewership of the top games is general college football fans. The fanbase of a Michigan or a Texas can barely drive 1.5M for a boring cupcake game, double that you get to ~3M, and Texas and Michigan playing each other gets 9M.

And I wouldn't necessarily call those "casuals" either. That's a lot of them surely, but I would imagine more are sicko nutjobs like us watching other games while our team isn't playing. We're putting on the "best" matchup whenever the Illini aren't on during Saturday.
 
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#112      
Dkayak
Mr. Tibbs said:
or maybe all of todays sets have built in hidden cameras and are watching everything we do and can also count eyeballs…………….
Burnie Burns Conspiracy GIF by Rooster Teeth
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I briefly wondered the same thing as I composed the question. Nah, . . . . but how then? Maybe there’s some sort of “average number of viewers per set” multiplying factor?
 
#113      
Bucktown
Dkayak said:
I briefly wondered the same thing as I composed the question. Nah, . . . . but how then? Maybe there’s some sort of “average number of viewers per set” multiplying factor?
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www.nielsen.com

Need to Know: How are TV audiences measured? | Nielsen

In this article we explore how tv audiences are measured, technology used to capture viewing data, and what metrics are media companies and advertisers using.
www.nielsen.com www.nielsen.com
 
#120      
BZuppke
mhuml32 said:
Wanted to look this up. Going by Simple Rating System (SRS), the current season is the 21st best Illinois season since Grange graduated. For you historians, here's the top 5:

(1) 1951 Rose Bowl Champs (Equivalent of the 1970 Ohio State national champs)
(2) 1946 Rose Bowl Champs (Equivalent to 2015 Alabama national champs)
(3) 1953 Big Ten co-champs (Equivalent to 2014 Ohio State national champs)
(4) 1963 Rose Bowl Champs (Equivalent to 2023 Penn State)
(5) 1950 (Equivalent to 2002 Ohio State national champs)


Here's the ranking of the best SRS teams in last 30 years - keep in mind the current team is 1/3 of the way through the season so much will change.

(1) 1994 Liberty Bowl (7-5)
(2) 1989 Citrus Bowl (10-2)
(3) 2001 Big Ten Champs (10-2)
(4) 2024 Team (!) (4-0)
(5) 1999 Micron PC Bowl (8-4)
(6) 2022 ReliaQuest Bowl (8-5)
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1984 Rose Bowl/Big Ten Champs?
 
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