The number of affluent college football TV viewers grew in 2016. Nielsen says during the regular 2016 college football season, 58 million live-program/same-day TV viewers lived in homes with an income of $100,000 or more -- a 13% increase from 51.5 million viewers in the 2015 season.
Nearly 57 million viewers had four or more years of college -- delivering a 57.6 reach number.
Most college football fans, as a percentage of the population, are centered around the South and Midwest -- especially around big brand-name programs like the Ohio State, Michigan, Florida State,and Oklahoma.
Southeast football powerhouses such as Alabama and Auburn draw in the biggest numbers. The Birmingham TV market has the highest concentration of college football fans. with almost 70% of its population identifying itself as a fan of the sport.
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Nielsen also says top 10 brands alone spent nearly $152 million dollars in TV advertising dollars during the 2015 college football regular season — the most in previous five regular seasons.
Other research shows that college football fans are 48% more likely to have traveled and stayed overnight to attend a sporting event, 30% more likely to own a business, 19% more likely to have investable assets worth more than $150,000, and 42% more likely to take action after seeing a sponsorship.