The college football bowl season got off to a slow start in the ratings.
The Fresno State-Arizona State Las Vegas Bowl earned a 2.25 rating and 3.33 million viewers on ABC Saturday afternoon, down 3% in rating and 12% in viewership from last year (Boise State-Oregon: 2.3, 3.80M) and down 5% and 11% respectively from 2016 (SDSU-Houston: 2.4, 3.74M).
The Bulldogs’ win was the least-watched Las Vegas Bowl in four years (2014 Utah-Colorado State: 1.4, 2.12M).
Earlier in the day, the North Carolina A&T-Alcorn State FCS Celebration Bowl had a 1.6 (flat) and 2.35 million (-1%). It was the least-watched edition of the game since it debuted in 2014.
Shifting to cable, the Middle Tennessee-Appalachian State New Orleans Bowl had a 0.8 and 1.37 million on ESPN — down a tick in ratings but up 3% in viewership from both last year (Troy-North Texas: 0.9, 1.33M) and 2016 (Southern Miss-Louisiana Lafayette: 0.9, 1.34M). It was the lowest rated New Orleans Bowl in nine years (2009: 0.7) and the most-watched in three (2015: 1.42M).
The Georgia Southern-Eastern Michigan Camellia Bowl had a 0.6 (-14%) and 986,000 (-17%), marking the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the five-year old game.
Finally, the Utah State-North Texas New Mexico Bowl drew a 0.7 (-9%) and 968,000 (-20%), marking the lowest rated edition of that game since at least 2008 and the least-watched since at least 2005.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 12.18]
