The Orange Bowl delivered its smallest audience in at least two decades.
Monday’s Florida-Virginia Orange Bowl averaged 6.07 million viewers on ESPN, marking the smallest audience for the game in at least 20 years. Ratings were not immediately available. The previous low was 7.17 million for West Virginia 70, Clemson 33 in 2012.
The Gators’ win averaged the fourth-smallest audience for a New Year’s Six or Bowl Championship Series game (111 telecasts). The 2015 Peach Bowl (Houston-Florida State: 5.60M), 2017 Cotton Bowl (Wisconsin-Western Michigan: 5.44M) and 2014 Peach Bowl (TCU-Mississippi: 5.01M) hold the bottom three spots.
Viewership fell 48% from the 2017 Orange Bowl (Wisconsin-Miami: 11.73M). Last year’s Alabama-Oklahoma Orange Bowl was a playoff semifinal and averaged 19.07 million.
In other New Year’s Six action, Saturday’s Penn State-Memphis Cotton Bowl averaged a 3.8 rating and 6.22 million viewers on ESPN — down 28% in ratings and 34% in viewership from 2017, when the game aired in primetime (Ohio State-USC: 5.3, 9.47M). Last year’s Clemson-Notre Dame Cotton Bowl was a College Football Playoff semifinal and averaged a 9.4 and 16.81 million.
Shifting to the other bowls, Saturday’s Notre Dame-Iowa State Camping World Bowl averaged a 2.65 (-5%) and 4.17 million (-14%) on ABC — the smallest audience for the game since 2012 (Virginia Tech-Rutgers: 3.94M).
Also hitting multi-year lows were Monday’s Music City Bowl (Mississippi State-Louisville: 2.20M), which averaged its smallest audience since 2012 (-14%); the First Responder Bowl (Western Kentucky-Western Michigan: 1.29M), which averaged its smallest audience since 2014 (-11%); and Friday’s Cactus Bowl (Washington State-Air Force: 1.6, 2.62M), which averaged its smallest audience since 2016 (-3%).
On the other end of the spectrum, Friday’s Oklahoma State-Texas A&M Texas Bowl averaged a 2.8 (+40%) and 4.90 million (+46%), the most-watched edition of the game since 2015 (LSU-Texas Tech: 4.96M).
The Iowa-USC Holiday Bowl drew a 1.3 (+44%) and 2.50 million (+40%) on FS1, the largest audience for that game since it last aired on ESPN in 2016 (Kansas State-Texas A&M: 2.2, 3.79M).
Rounding out the recent slate, Friday’s Pinstripe Bowl (Michigan State-Wake Forest) was flat at a 2.3 and 3.80 million. The preceding Military Bowl (North Carolina-Temple) drew a 1.3 (-24%) and 2.07 million (-22%).
