Saturday night’s Heisman Trophy presentation to Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza drew the largest television audience for the event since 2012.
The show averaged 4.3 million viewers on ABC, the highest number since 2012, when 4.9 million people watched Texas A&M signal caller Johnny Manziel become the first freshman to win the prestigious award.
This is the first time the audience has exceeded 4 million since 2013 (4.18 million) and the first time to even exceed 3 million since 2015 (3.06 million), according to Nielsen.
Saturday’s audience peaked at 5.8 million, a 69% increase from the previous year on ESPN (2.52 million).
ESPN has broadcast the Heisman Trophy presentation from 1994 to 2024. The last time it was shown on television before Saturday was in 1993 on NBC.
Mendoza guided the undefeated Hoosiers (13-0) to the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. He passed for 2,980 passing yards with an NCAA-best 33 touchdowns and six interceptions.
–Field level media
