I live in NC and I rarely see Wake Forest fans or alumni… I see lots of UNC, NC State, ECU and App State fans.
Oh yeah… And Duke fans during 
season.
Here are the ratings from two years ago.
Of note:
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The ACC (Clemson vs Virginia) beat the AAC (Memphis vs Cincinnati) though not necessarily by the margin I’d expect. ACC was closer to us than they were to the Pac-12, despite an undefeated Clemson headed to the playoffs with a win. We were up against the SEC and they were up against the Big Ten, though that year there was no gap between their ratings.
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The Mountain West Conference’s ratings are just abysmal. They drew less than the Sun Belt despite 11-1 Boise State being there (albeit against 9-4 Hawaii). Granted, they were up against both the SEC and ACC, but they were on ESPN which is where everyone else was.
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In terms of ratings, within the G5 there’s the AAC and there’s everybody else. More people watched the AAC than the rest of the G5 combined. A lot of that is because we are on ABC and the rest are on ESPN or worse. That didn’t happen in a vacuum, though. Aresco made that happen, as did the value of AAC programs. One of the reasons I’m bullish on the AAC is that I think a lot of the TV contract’s value is in that exposure, and I think they’ll get to keep it.
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Big 12 came in at number three that year as well. They did have blueblood Oklahoma in the game, though, and they were closer to the Pac-12 than they were the Big Ten that year.
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2017 and 2018 were less helpful because 2018 had UT vs OU and of course that was a ratings bonanza and 2017 was missing Pac-12. But in each year the AAC was behind the P5 but not by all that much. The Big 12 was a solid #3 most years The order seems reasonably consistent: SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, ACC with only some variation. The Mountain West Conference is comparable to the Sun Belt and the MAC and not the AAC.
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So… The SEC will grow viewership gaining OUT fan bases and the new Big 12, in theory, should still compete with the PAC-12 ratings and be ahead of the ACC with the addition of BYU,UH,Cincy & UCF’s fan bases.
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The 2 AAC teams are both being elevated to P5
Absolutely. But the argument all along was that we were being excluded when in fact we were a fairly decent ratings draw.
The P5 / G5 line in the sand was a ridiculous one. There are plenty of P5s no one gives a rip about. Then there are a handful of G5s and independents that America tunes into to watch. Houston, Boise State, Cincinnati, UCF, BYU and the service academies all fit that bill.
My hat is off to the AAC. Yes we are leaving and it is a better conference that we are going to. But the AAC served us very well and we served the AAC very well. I will always wish the AAC schools well.
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2019 Viewership
2021 Viewership
Almost a 19% increase from pre-pandemic viewership.
It could be because it was a better matchup. It could be because Cincy was #4. It could be because Cougars were in the game. 
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Yeah, but not yet. Both the Big 12 invite and the CFP crashing relied on events over which we had no control. And as of right now, we’re still G5 in G5 conferences with schedules that many argued should exclude us from playoff consideration.
But it turns out if you put a G5 in a time slot on a network adjacent to P5, ratings start looking a lot more like (lower) P5 than G5.
I was ready to attribute the ratings this year to Cincinnati’s run, but they’re not too far out of line from previous years:
2021: 2.04 rating, 3.4m (Houston vs Cincinnati)
2019: 1.87 rating, 2.9m (Memphis vs Cincinnati)
2018: 2.10 rating, 3.3m (Memphis vs UCF)
2017: 2.37 rating 3.4m (Memphis vs UCF)
2016: 1.43 rating, 2.0m (Temple vs Navy)
2015: 2.04 rating, ??? (Temple vs Houston)
In 2016, Unranked Temple was 9-3, #20 Navy was 9-2 and there was no NY6 on the line. The ACC was between 2.4 and 3.3 over this time except this year when they were 1.53 (2.6m). There was an NY6 on the line in 2019, but neither team was undefeated. There were no viewership numbers available for 2015 or before.
Basically, as long as there were ranked teams we did okay, and if there were top 10 teams we did pretty well. Especially given the lack of playoff implications. If they maintain their contract and anyone steps up, I expect they will continue to do well.
I agree with this, but would add that there is a reasonable likelihood that other G5’s will rise. “There aren’t any G5 anyone cares about (except Boise and the service academies)” will have a pretty short shelf-life most likely. Especially as they become playoff-eligible. Brands will emerge.
P6 Baby!
Strange, this is the first year in a long time I did watch. I just don’t care about watching Alabama or Georgia playing Ohio State.
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I watched them, as usual.
Miami vs Ole Miss was a very good, exciting game.
Indiana vs Oregon, not so much. I actually quit watching it.
The Monday night Title Game should draw a lot of viewers.
The ratings were down because they put the games on Thursday night!!! Put them on Saturday where they belong, and the ratings will be fine…NOBODY cares whether its Texas or Indiana or whoever…PLAY the games on Saturday!
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I missed it because I was waiting for the weekend to watch the games
Agree with the comment on Thursday night game.
Not very bright scheduling.
Both games on Saturday is the way!
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It’s true… I actually missed the Thursday night game thinking it was Friday and Saturday nights…
The novelty wore off to the casual fan, last year it was new and different this year it’s the same and if you are not a diehard fan it’s a slog. When it was 4 teams it was 3 football games… I don’t even have a guess to the current number of total games. I think Monday’s game will get good ratings.
The lack of blueblood presence excure they give tells me it is a fan problem not a sport problem. If fans just want to watch the names they think to be good only, then they get to miss a lot of good football. Maybe the sports media needs to push teh sport instead of a couple name teams and they might get better results.
Then put the games on Saturday on broadcast TV, not cable only. ESPN showing might have a bit to do with it.
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