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.
|
'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
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts.
| 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
|
