Fox’s coverage of the Penn State-Purdue game drew bigger national television ratings than ESPN’s broadcast of the Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia on Thursday night.
According to showbuzzdaily.com, the Penn State-Purdue game drew 3.512 million viewers while the Pitt-West Virginia game drew 3.152 million viewers.
The Pitt-West Virginia game, however, fared better in the viewers 18-49 demographic that is prized by advertisers, with a 1.01 rating, compared to a 0.82 for the Penn State-Purdue game.
The Penn State-Purdue game was the second-most watched program on broadcast television, finishing behind “Big Brother” on CBS.
The Pitt-West Virginia game was the most watched on cable, finishing just ahead of “The Five” on Fox News.
The Penn State-Purdue game was originally scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN but was traded to Fox for the rights to negotiate with play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, who subsequently signed on as the voice of “Monday Night Football.”
