College football TV viewership shows which conference runs the sport

The Big Ten Conference has to be feeling good about its position in college football. Off three straight national titles (and with three different teams winning), the conference hasn't been shy about making its claims to college football dominance. But there are some other data points that suggest that such a comparison is a bit premature.

At least in terms of TV viewership, the Big Ten doesn't stand supreme. The statistics under consideration are the regular season. It is worth noting that the College Football Playoff title game had massive ratings, with Big Ten champion Indiana besting ACC foe Miami. But overall, there's still one TV viewership leader, and it's not the Big Ten.

SEC reigns in television terms

The SEC nearly doubled the Big Ten in regular season TV viewership according to data from the Wall Street Journal. Their report indicated an average SEC game viewership of 4.9 million, while the Big Ten's totals came in at 2.8 million.

A few SEC advantages

There are a couple of easy explanations that help to explain the gap. The SEC's television deal is with ESPN and the multitude of ESPN networks likely ensure a more consistent viewership than the Big Ten's agreement. The conference has games broadcast with FOX, FS1, NBC, CBS, and Paramount. While the network offer and facilitiate top viewership for the biggest games of the week, some of the lesser games are limited.

Along those lines, the Big Ten is a bigger conference than the SEC and thus likely accrues more games that are perhaps not exactly must-see experiences. Whle Ohio State/Michigan or Penn State/Oregon can draw massive audiences, but a Purdue/Maryland matchup is probably less appealing than any of the SEC's offerings.

Meanwhile, the SEC does have more powerhouse schools with massive audiences. The Big Ten's historic quatrain of Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, and Penn State all draw good TV viewership, but the SEC boasts eight of the ten most watched teams in the regular season. Only Ohio State and Michigan joined that list of the top ten, with Auburn in a losing season drawing more viewers than Michigan. Alabama also drew almost a million more viewers per week than the second-ranked Texas team.

But regardless of the reasoning, the Big Ten's trio of CFP titles still haven't lead to eclipsing the SEC in viewership. Given a multitude of coaching moves within the SEC, it seems likely that even fans of schools who might otherwise have been tuning out (Kentucky and Florida, to name two) are likely to be dialed in. On the other hand, with Indiana threatening to become something near a dynasty, it's possible that the Big Ten steps up on television like it has on the field.