The Virginia Tech-Ohio State Labor Day Night season opener drew a 6.6 overnight rating, the best for any opening-weekend college football game since 2010.
The previous best was the opener that season between Boise State and Virginia Tech, which drew a 6.7 rating.
The rating for the Tech-Ohio State game more than doubled the viewership for last year’s Labor Day Night opener featuring Miami and Louisville, which drew a 2.7 rating.
The game also pulled strong numbers online. The average one-minute audience on WatchESPN was 194,000 users, with a total of 708,000 unique viewers, by far a high for viewership for a football game via the app. The numbers surpassed last year’s Iron Bowl game between Auburn and Alabama, which had an average of 119,000 users and a total of 475,000 unique viewers.
– Story by Chris Graham