CHICAGO — The Big Ten Network saw its highest viewership in its history on Saturday, with four of the top 18 football teams in the country playing on the network.

For the day (noon until midnight), BTN earned a 2.04 rating in the network’s 12 metered markets and topped its previous record set in November 2014 by 30 percent.

BTN’s games were the highest rated across all cable networks in Baltimore, Chicago, Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Detroit and Washington, D.C. and second in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New York and Philadelphia.

“The heightened interest in Big Ten football around the country has generated increased enthusiasm for the conference, the schools and BTN,” said BTN President Mark Silverman. “The results from Saturday’s games have exceeded even our most optimistic expectations.”

The noon game featuring Maryland at No. 1 Ohio State, a 49-28 Buckeye win, averaged a 2.6 rating in the network’s 12 metered markets. The 3:30 p.m. matchup between No. 13 Northwestern and No. 18 Michigan resulted in the Wolverines’ third-consecutive shutout and delivered a 2.3 rating.

The 8 p.m. primetime game showcased No. 4 Michigan State at Rutgers, with the Spartans needing a touchdown in the final minute to secure the victory. Overall, the game earned a 1.7 rating.

It was also a record day across BTN’s digital and social media platforms, with all three games registering among the top-10 most viewed events on BTN2Go, the network’s digital extension. B

TN’s social platforms saw record-breaking traffic, including 1.5 million video views across BTN.com, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The Big Ten Network Vine account (@BigTenNetwork) also marked its highest-ever looped Vine, receiving more than 345K loops from Braxton Miller’s highlight move against Maryland.