ESPN finished with a 15.1 U.S. rating and 26.4 million viewers for Alabama’s 42-14 win over Notre Dame in Monday night’s BCS National Championship, marking the second-best audience in cable TV history. The only larger audience was the ’11 Auburn-Oregon BCS title game, which drew a 15.3 rating and 27.3 million viewers. Alabama-Notre Dame also is up 8% and 9%, respectively, from a 14.0 rating and 24.2 million viewers for the Alabama-LSU title game last year. For five BCS bowl games this year, ESPN averaged an 8.8 rating and 15.1 million viewers, up 5% and 8%, respectively, from last year, but down from the net’s first year covering all five games in ’11.
|
BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AUDIENCE TREND
|
|
YEAR
|
DAY
|
GAME |
NET
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
'13
|
Mon.
|
Alabama-Notre Dame |
ESPN
|
15.1
|
26,380
|
|
'12
|
Mon.
|
Alabama-LSU |
ESPN
|
14.0
|
24,214
|
|
'11
|
Mon.
|
Auburn-Oregon |
ESPN
|
15.3
|
27,316
|
|
'10
|
Thurs.
|
Alabama-Texas |
ABC
|
17.2
|
30,776
|
|
'09
|
Thurs.
|
Florida-Oklahoma |
Fox
|
15.8
|
26,767
|
|
'08
|
Mon.
|
LSU-Ohio State |
Fox
|
14.4
|
23,069
|
|
'07
|
Mon.
|
Florida-Ohio State |
Fox
|
17.4
|
28,795
|
|
'06
|
Wed.
|
Texas-USC (Rose Bowl) |
ABC
|
21.7
|
35,630
|
|
'05
|
Tues.
|
USC-Oklahoma (Orange Bowl) |
ABC
|
13.7
|
21,419
|
|
'04
|
Sun.
|
LSU-Oklahoma (Sugar Bowl) |
ABC
|
14.8
|
23,937
|
|
'03
|
Fri.
|
Ohio State-Miami (Fiesta Bowl) |
ABC
|
17.2
|
29,104
|
|
'02
|
Thurs.
|
Miami-Nebraska (Rose Bowl) |
ABC
|
13.8
|
21,559
|
|
'01
|
Wed.
|
Oklahoma-Florida State (Orange Bowl) |
ABC
|
17.8
|
27,240
|
|
'00
|
Tues.
|
Florida State-Virginia Tech (Sugar Bowl) |
ABC
|
17.5
|
26,962
|
|
'99
|
Mon.
|
Tennessee-Florida State (Fiesta Bowl) |
ABC
|
17.2
|
26,112
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
VIEWERSHIP TREND FOR BCS BOWL GAMES
|
|
YEAR
|
NET(S)
|
U.S. RATING
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
'13
|
ESPN
|
8.8
|
15,131
|
|
'12
|
ESPN
|
8.4
|
14,018
|
|
'11
|
ESPN
|
9.6
|
16,729
|
|
'10
|
Fox/ABC
|
10.9
|
19,278
|
|
'09
|
Fox/ABC
|
10.3
|
17,595
|
|
'08
|
Fox/ABC
|
9.4
|
15,554
|
|
'07
|
Fox/ABC
|
11.1
|
18,123
|
