College football bowl ratings have been a mixed bag thus far.
Last Saturday’s Boise State-Oregon Las Vegas Bowl earned a 2.3 rating and 3.80 million viewers on ABC, down a tick in ratings but up 2% in viewership from last year (SDSU-Houston: 2.4, 3.74M) and up 5% and 3% respectively from 2015 (Utah-BYU: 2.2, 3.68M).
Despite the dip in ratings, the Broncos’ win was the most-watched Las Vegas Bowl since Boise State’s previous appearance — against Washington on ESPN in 2012 (4.4M).
Through Wednesday’s games, the Las Vegas Bowl ranks as the most-watched of the young bowl season. In second place, the FCS Celebration Bowl between North Carolina A&T and Grambling had a 1.6 (-11%) and 2.4 million (-13%).
In other action Saturday, the Troy-North Texas New Orleans Bowl had a 0.9 and 1.3 million on ESPN — flat in ratings and down 1% in viewership from last year (Southern Miss-ULL: 0.9, 1.3M) and the smallest audience for the game since 2009 (MTSU-Southern Miss: 993K). Viewership has dropped for four straight years.
The Marshall-Colorado State New Mexico Bowl drew a 0.75 (-17%) and 1.2 million (-13%), its smallest audience since at least 2005. Viewership has dropped for three straight years.
Continuing the trend of declines, the Middle Tennessee-Arkansas State Camellia Bowl had a 0.7 (-22%) and 1.2 million (-20%), its smallest audience since 2014 (BGSU-South Alabama: 1.1M).
Shifting to midweek, Tuesday’s FAU-Akron Boca Raton Bowl earned 1.4 million viewers — down 12% from last year (WKU-Memphis: 1.6M), down 29% from 2015 (Temple-Toledo: 2.0M), and the smallest audience in the four-year history of the game.
Wednesday’s Frisco Bowl bucked the trend, but only technically. Louisiana Tech-SMU scored 1.3 million viewers, up 57% from last year — when it was still the Miami Beach Bowl and took place on a weekday afternoon (794K). Considering the change in venue and timeslot, it is not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison.
The college football ratings page, which remains updated through the end of the bowl season, is available here.
[Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 12.19]
