U.S. Open The Latest Property To Go To Cable ESPN Hosted Brainstorming Event TNT Draws High Marks For Pacers-Knicks Ratings Notes Media Notes ESPN, USTA Finalize 11-Year Deal For U.S. Open Root Sports To Carry MWC Football, Hoops Pepper Returns To TV With ESPN ESPN's Skipper Welcomes Competition McCain Continues Fight For A La Carte Option
Upcoming Conferences and Events
SBD/January 11, 2013/Media
Final Ratings: Bowl Game Viewership Sees 6% Increase From Last Season
Published January 11, 2013
College bowl games across ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, Fox and CBS averaged 5.6 million viewers this season for 34 telecasts (excluding the Heart of Dallas Bowl on ESPNU), up 6.1% from 5.2 million viewers in ’11-12, but down from 9% from during the ’10-11 season. Viewership for ESPN’s five BCS games was up 8% this year. ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 3.5 million viewers for 26 non-BCS bowls this season, up 3% from last season (25 games), but down from 3.7 million viewers in ’10-11. Fox topped all non-BCS games with 11.9 million viewers for the Texas A&M-Oklahoma AT&T Cotton Bowl, marking the net’s best audience for the bowl since it picked up TV rights in ’99. ESPN’s average 8.6 million viewers for the Clemson-LSU Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve, marking the net’s best non-BCS bowl on record (ESPN began airing the bowl in ’92). The Chick-fil-A Bowl now marks four of the top 10 most-viewed non-BCS bowls all-time on ESPN. CBS' lone bowl -- the Hyundai Sun Bowl -- averaged 4.0 million viewers for Georgia Tech-USC, down slightly from 4.1 million viewers for Utah-Georgia Tech last year. Below are the top 10 non-BCS bowls from this season.
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts.
Return to top
|
'12-13 MOST-VIEWED NON-BCS BOWL GAMES
|
|||||
| BOWL | MATCHUP |
DATE
|
NET
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000) |
| AT&T Cotton | Texas A&M-Oklahoma |
1/4
|
Fox
|
7.2
|
11,938
|
| Capital One | Georgia-Nebraska |
1/1
|
ABC
|
6.6
|
10,954
|
| Chick-fil-A | Clemson-LSU |
12/31
|
ESPN
|
4.8
|
8,557
|
| Outback | South Carolina-Michigan |
1/1
|
ESPN
|
4.3
|
7,583
|
| Valero Alamo | Texas-Oregon State |
12/29
|
ESPN
|
4.1
|
6,757
|
| New Era Pinstripe Classic | Syracuse-West Virginia |
12/29
|
ESPN
|
3.9
|
5,148
|
| Meineke Car Care of Texas | Texas Tech-Minnesota |
12/28
|
ESPN
|
2.9
|
4,556
|
| Maaco Bowl Las Vegas | Boise State-Washington |
12/22
|
ESPN
|
2.9
|
4,434
|
| Buffalo Wild Wings | Michigan State-TCU |
12/29
|
ESPN
|
2.7
|
4,424
|
| Hyundai Sun | Georgia Tech-USC |
12/31
|
CBS
|
2.7
|
3,968
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
| AT&T Cotton Bowl: Texas A&M-Oklahoma |
1/4
|
Fox
|
8:10-11:38pm
|
7.2
|
11,938
|
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" |
1/5
|
ABC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
n/a
|
| Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing |
1/5
|
CBS
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.4
|
n/a
|
| NCAA Women's Basketball: Purdue-Nebraska |
1/5
|
CBS
|
2:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
n/a
|
| NCAA Women's Basketball: Notre Dame-UConn |
1/5
|
CBS
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
n/a
|
| FA Cup: Third Round: Manchester United-West Ham |
1/5
|
Fox
|
12:15-2:15pm
|
0.6
|
887
|
| High School Football: U.S. Army All-American Bowl |
1/5
|
NBC
|
1:00-4:00pm
|
1.2
|
1,700
|
| "Football Night in America" |
1/5
|
NBC
|
4:00-4:30pm
|
4.2
|
6,400
|
| AFC Wild Card: Texans-Bengals |
1/5
|
NBC
|
4:30-8:00pm
|
14.4
|
23,600
|
| NFC Wild Card: Packers-Vikings |
1/5
|
NBC
|
8:09-11:03pm
|
17.3
|
30,276
|
| Liga MX: Club America-Monterrey |
1/5
|
Univ.
|
5:55-8:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,439
|
| "The NFL Today" |
1/6
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
4.6
|
n/a
|
| AFC Wild Card: Ravens-Colts |
1/6
|
CBS
|
1:00-4:30pm
|
18.1
|
29,600
|
| NCAA Basketball: Temple-Kansas |
1/6
|
CBS
|
4:30-6:30pm
|
2.0
|
n/a
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
1/6
|
Fox
|
4:00-4:30pm
|
||
| NFC Wild Card: Seahawks-Redskins |
1/6
|
Fox
|
4:30-7:30pm
|
21.5
|
38,100
|
| PGA Tour: Hyundai Tournament of Champions: First Round* |
1/6
|
NBC
|
3:30-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
970
|
| Liga MX: CD Guadalajara-Toluca |
1/6
|
Telem.
|
5:55-8:00pm
|
0.4
|
846
|
| NOTE: *Play suspended early due to high winds. | |||||
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
| Rose Bowl: Stanford-Wisconsin |
1/1
|
ESPN
|
5:08-8:24pm
|
9.4
|
17,024
|
| Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Oregon-Kansas State |
1/3
|
ESPN
|
8:30-11:45pm
|
7.4
|
12,306
|
| Allstate Sugar Bowl: Louisville-Florida |
1/1
|
ESPN
|
8:51pm-12:14am
|
6.2
|
10,562
|
| Discover Orange Bowl: Florida State-Northern Illinois |
1/2
|
ESPN
|
8:26-11:45pm
|
6.1
|
10,125
|
| Chick-fil-a Bowl: Clemson-LSU |
12/31
|
ESPN
|
7:30-11:20pm
|
4.8
|
8,557
|
| Outback Bowl: South Carolina-Michigan |
1/1
|
ESPN
|
1:00-4:46pm
|
4.3
|
7,583
|
| NBA: Lakers-Clippers |
1/4
|
ESPN
|
10:42pm-1:33am
|
2.1
|
3,086
|
| AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Tulsa-Iowa State |
12/31
|
ESPN
|
3:31-7:04pm
|
1.7
|
2,704
|
| BBVA Compass Bowl: Pitt-Ole Miss |
1/5
|
ESPN
|
1:00-4:31pm
|
1.9
|
2,672
|
| TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Northwestern-Mississippi State |
1/1
|
ESPN2
|
12:00-3:21pm
|
1.4
|
2,230
|
