Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia Bulldogs

Most-watched Georgia-Florida game in 30-plus years drew nearly 7M viewers

Georgia Coach Kirby Smart says the team was in Jacksonville to do their job, and they did beating Florida 24,17. Quarterback Jake From also talks about coming out on top for the third straight year. (Video by Ryon Horne, Photos by Curtis Compton and Bob Andres)
By
Nov 5, 2019

Georgia’s victory over Florida on Saturday averaged a national TV audience of almost 7 million viewers, making it the most-watched game between the teams in more than 30 years.

CBS Sports’ telecast of the game from Jacksonville, Fla., drew 6.978 million viewers on average, according to the network – the most to watch a game between the Bulldogs and Gators since at least 1988, which is as far back as CBS viewership data goes.

Saturday’s audience peaked with 8.859 million viewers from 6:45 to 7 p.m.

Locally, the game drew a 22.1 rating in the Atlanta market, meaning 22.1% of the market’s households with TVs watched on average. It drew a higher rating in two other markets: Jacksonville (28.0) and Birmingham (24.3).

Nationally, the game was the most watched college football telecast of the day.

About the Author

Tim Tucker, a long-time AJC sports reporter, often writes about the business side of the games. He also had stints as the AJC's Braves beat writer, UGA beat writer, sports notes columnist and executive sports editor. He was deputy managing editor of America's first all-sports newspaper, The National Sports Daily.

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