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Michigan-Ohio State highest-rated game of 2016 season

Posted at 12:55 PM, Nov 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-28 08:59:52-05

(WXYZ) -- Saturday's edition of "The Game" between Michigan and Ohio State lived up to the hype, and drew the viewership numbers to match.

ESPN announced Saturday's Michigan-Ohio State game was the highest-rated game across all networks this season, earning a 10.4 overnight rating. The audience peaked at a 12.7 rating between 3:45 and 4:00 p.m. when the game was in overtime. The previously highest-rated game this season was Notre Dame at Texas on September 4, which drew a 7.0 rating on ABC.

Detroit was the third highest-rated viewing market (behind Columbus and Dayton), drawing a 30.8 local rating on WXYZ. According to an ESPN release, the 30.8 is the second-highest local rating ever in Detroit for a college football game on any ESPN network.

 

 

The game also set a streaming record for ESPN. The network announced 1,273,000 unique viewers online, marking the first time an ESPN stream has surpassed one million unique viewers.