Alabama’s victory over Florida State at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, nationally televised Saturday night on ABC, delivered what the network described as “monster” ratings.
The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game matchup of the No. 1- and No. 3-ranked teams drew a 7.3 overnight rating across the nation, the highest on record for a college-football opening-weekend game on ABC or ESPN.
That rating means 7.3 percent of homes in the nation’s 56 metered markets watched the game on average.
The highest local rating for the game, not surprisingly, was generated in the Birmingham, Ala., TV market, 46.6.
In Atlanta, the game drew a 15.2 local rating, more than double the national average. That translates to an audience of about 367,000 homes in the Atlanta TV market.
Georgia’s victory over Appalachian State, which aired on ESPN and started one hour and 45 minutes before Alabama-FSU, drew a 9.6 local rating in the Atlanta market, an average audience of about 232,000 homes here.
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