The college football bowl season got off to a stronger start on broadcast and a weaker one on cable.
The San Diego State/Houston Las Vegas Bowl had a 2.6 overnight rating on ABC Saturday afternoon, up 8% from BYU/Utah last year (2.4), up 63% from Utah/Colorado State in 2014 (1.4), and the highest for the bowl since Boise State/Washington on ESPN in 2012 (3.0).
The 2.6 was the highest non-NFL overnight of the weekend, topping the Kentucky/North Carolina college basketball game on CBS later in the day (2.4).
Earlier in the day, the FCS Celebration Bowl between Grambling and North Carolina Central had a 2.0 overnight — up a tick from last year’s inaugural matchup between North Carolina A&T and Alcorn State.
Over on cable, the results were not as positive. Per Sports Business Daily, overnights fell 10% for the Southern Miss/Louisiana-Lafayette New Orleans Bowl (from 1.0 to 0.9) and by 29% for both the Appalacian State/Toledo Camellia Bowl and the New Mexico/UT-San Antonio New Mexico bowl (from 1.4 to 1.0 for both games).
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily 12/19)
