Ohio State-Washington in the Rose Bowl was up 3% from USC-Penn State in '17getty images
Both the Rose and Sugar Bowls saw strong ratings support yesterday, but the average overnight rating for the New Year’s Six bowls on ESPN networks (8.0) was down 5% this season. This comes as the '17 season had the benefit of two CFP semifinal games being played on New Year’s Day. The 8.0 is up from two years ago, when the semifinals fell on New Year’s Eve, and the best average for the New Year’s Six outside of years when the semifinals were on New Year’s Day. Yesterday's Rose Bowl featuring Ohio State-Washington drew a 9.7 overnight across ESPN and ESPN2, up 3% from USC-Penn State two years ago. The '18 Georgia-Oklahoma Rose Bowl was a CFP semifinal. Meanwhile, Texas’ win over Georgia in the Alllstate Sugar Bowl last night drew a 7.8 overnight across ESPN/ESPN2, up 28% from two years ago. The '18 Alabama-Clemson Sugar Bowl also was a CFP semifinal. Additionally yesterday, LSU-UCF in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl drew a 5.0 overnight, down 15% from Washington-Penn State last year.
|
NEW YEAR'S SIX: OVERNIGHT RATINGS TREND ON ESPN
|
|
BOWL SEASON
|
AVERAGE RATING
|
|
'18-19
|
8.0
|
|
'17-18
|
8.4
|
|
'16-17
|
7.8
|
|
'15-16
|
7.3
|
|
'14-15
|
8.1
|
BREAKING DOWN THE SEMIFINALS: The CFP semifinals saw a sharp drop in viewership this year, as both games saw lopsided scores early on and did not have the benefit of airing on New Year’s Day. In the late Saturday afternoon window, ESPN drew a total audience delivery -- which includes ESPN2's "Coaches Film Room" and streaming -- of 16.8 million viewers for Clemson's 30-3 win over Notre Dame in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. That is down from 26.8 million viewers for the early semifinal game last year -- Georgia's 54-48 OT win over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. Two years ago, Alabama's convincing win over Washington in the early window drew 19.3 million. In Saturday's primetime window, Alabama's 45-34 win over Oklahoma in the Capital One Orange Bowl -- in which Alabama raced out to a 28-0 lead -- drew a total audience delivery of 19.1 million viewers. That is down from 21.1 million last year, as Alabama beat Clemson in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Two years ago in primetime, Clemson's 31-0 win over Ohio State drew 19.2 million viewers.
