In the final year before it joins the college football playoff, the Peach Bowl set another viewership record on ESPN.
The Texas A&M/Duke Peach Bowl earned 8.7 million viewers on ESPN New Year’s Eve, up 2% from Clemson/LSU in 2012 (8.6M), up 41% from Auburn/Virginia in 2011 (6.2M), and the most-viewed non-BCS bowl ever on ESPN. The previous high was set by last year’s Peach Bowl. Excluding the BCS games, the Peach Bowl earned the largest audience of the bowl season on cable.
Ranking second among non-BCS games on cable, last Monday’s Oregon/Texas Alamo Bowl earned 7.6 million viewers — up 12% from Texas/Oregon State in 2012 (6.7M), and up 9% from Baylor/Washington in 2011 (6.9M). Oregon/Texas earned the largest Alamo Bowl audience since Texas Tech/Michigan State in the 2009-10 season (7.8M), which at the time was the most-viewed non-BCS bowl ever on ESPN.
In third place, somewhat surprisingly, was the Louisville/Miami in the Russell Athletic Bowl. The game earned 5.7 million viewers, up 46% from Rutgers/Virginia Tech in 2012 (3.9M), up 10% from Florida State/Notre Dame in 2011 (5.2M), and the most-viewed edition of the game since the 2009-10 season.
Shifting to the New Year’s Day bowls, the Gator and Outback bowls went in opposite directions this year. ESPN earned 5.4 million viewers for the LSU/Iowa Outback Bowl, down 28% from South Carolina/Michigan last year (7.6M), down 34% from Michigan State/Georgia on ABC in 2012 (8.2M), and the least-viewed since the 2008-09 season.
Meanwhile, the Nebraska/Georgia Gator Bowl earned 4.5 million on ESPN2 — up 102% from Northwestern/Mississippi State last year (2.2M), up 53% from Ohio State/Florida in 2012 (2.9M), and the most-viewed Gator Bowl since the 2009-10 season.
Moving to broadcast, the Missouri/Oklahoma State Cotton Bowl earned 6.5 million viewers on FOX Friday night — down 45% from Texas A&M/Oklahoma last year (11.9M), down 22% from Arkansas/Kansas State in 2012 (8.4M), and the least-viewed edition of the game since the 2008-09 season. Unlike previous years, the Cotton Bowl aired directly opposite the Orange Bowl on ESPN. The Orange Bowl finished comfortably ahead, with 11.4 million viewers.
Ratings and viewership were not immediately available for the the other bowls on broadcast — the Sun Bowl on CBS and the Capital One Bowl on ABC.
(Bowl numbers from The Futon Critic, TV By the Numbers)
