In year when most bowl games moved from broadcast television to cable, the lone bowl to shift in the opposite direction had a massive increase in ratings.
Last Saturday’s Florida/Penn State Outback Bowl earned a 7.1 final rating and 12.445 million viewers on ABC, up 103% in ratings and 119% in viewership from last year (AUB/NWU: 3.5, 5.685 mil), and up 173% and 204%, respectively, from 2009 (IOWA/SC: 2.6, 4.093 mil).
Florida/Penn State was also up 4% and 7%, respectively, from last year’s Capital One Bowl on ABC (6.8, 11.631 mil).
The Outback Bowl ranks as the second-highest rated, second-most-viewed college football game of the season on broadcast TV, behind only Auburn/Alabama on CBS Black Friday (7.3, 12.520 mil).
The game also ranks as the highest rated, most-viewed non-BCS bowl since the 2008 Capital One Bowl (MICH/UF: 9.1, 14.780 mil, ABC).
Compared to college games on cable, Saturday’s game easily trounced the Capital One Bowl on ESPN (3.7, 6.045 mil), and even topped the Bowl Championship Series’ Fiesta and Orange Bowls.
(Ratings/viewership from Sports Business Daily)
