In primetime for the first time, the Cotton Bowl hit a 12-year high in ratings on FOX.
The LSU/Texas A&M Cotton Bowl earned a 5.8 final rating and 10.014 million viewers on FOX last Friday night, up 29% in ratings and 38% in viewership from last year (MISS/OKST: 4.5, 7.250 mil), and up 35% and 56%, respectively, from 2009 (MISS/TTU: 4.3, 6.407 mil).
LSU’s victory ranks as the highest rated Cotton Bowl since 1998 (UCLA/TAMU: 6.2, CBS), and the most-viewed since at least 2001 (viewership prior to 2000 was not available).
This is the third straight year ratings and viewership have improved for the Cotton Bowl.
The Cotton Bowl drew the second-largest audience of the non-BCS bowls, behind only the Outback Bowl on ABC (UF/PSU: 12.445 mil). Additionally, the game finished within one million viewers of two BCS games on ESPN — the Orange (STAN/VT: 10.682 mil) and Fiesta (OK/CONN: 10.819 mil) bowls.
Even with the strong numbers, this is the fifteenth time in sixteen years that the Cotton Bowl has failed to draw at least a 6.0 rating. While that may not seem like a big deal, consider that the Cotton Bowl topped a 9.0 rating in eight times in nine years between 1986 and 1994 — hitting double-digits six times during that span.
Ratings For Cotton Bowl Dating Back to 1986; Viewership Since ’02
(Rating from Sports Business Daily, viewership from pifeedback.com)
