ABC Tops Week 4 College Football Ratings
Nielsen Big Data + Panel figures compiled by On3 show SEC matchups and ABC scheduling concentrated the largest national audiences.
Overview
- Texas vs. Tennessee drew about 9.7 million viewers on ABC, making it the highest-rated game of the Week 4 slate that ran the weekend of Sept. 26.
- ABC swept the three main Saturday windows—noon, 3:30 p.m. ET and 7:30 p.m. ET—and now holds the three most-watched games of the 2026 season on the updated Nielsen metric.
- Ole Miss vs. Florida averaged roughly 8.3 million viewers on ABC and LSU vs. Texas A&M led the primetime ABC slot with about 5.7 million viewers.
- FOX reported that its Friday-night game Northwestern vs. Indiana averaged 3.6 million viewers, showing growing Friday interest outside the Saturday broadcast windows.
- Reporters note that Nielsen’s newer Big Data + Panel method, used in these rankings, changes how co-viewing and out‑of‑home audiences are counted and complicates direct year-over-year comparisons.