College football’s bowl season has been a success story early on.
Not counting the brand new LA Bowl, nine of the first 12 college football bowl games this season (through Wednesday) have posted an increase over the previous edition.
Last Saturday’s UAB-BYU Independence Bowl ranks as the highest rated and most-watched bowl thus far with a 1.9 rating and 3.22 million viewers on ABC, marking the largest audience for the game since 2015 (Georgia Tech-Tulsa: 3.42M). Ratings jumped 35% and viewership 36% from the previous edition on ESPN two seasons ago (Louisiana Tech-Miami: 1.4, 2.37M).
ABC owns the three largest audiences of the bowl season to date, with the inaugural LA Bowl (Utah State-Oregon State) averaging a 1.7 and 2.89 million and the FCS Celebration Bowl (South Carolina State-Jackson State) at a 1.6 and 2.59 million. The Celebration Bowl increased 34% in ratings and 43% in viewership from the previous edition in ’19 (NC A&T-Alcorn State: 1.2, 1.81M) to rank as the most-watched edition of the game since 2016 (Grambling-NC Central: 2.71M).
Overall, ABC’s bowl tripleheader last Saturday averaged 35% more viewers (2.9M) than in 2019.
ESPN’s top bowl so far was Wednesday’s Army-Missouri Armed Forces Bowl, which averaged 2.57 million viewers — up 14% from last year (Mississippi State-Tulsa: 2.25M), up 48% from Tulane-Southern Miss in 2019 (1.74M) and the most-watched edition of the game since 2018 (Army-Houston: 2.58M).
Ranking a distant second, last Saturday’s Boca Raton Bowl (Western Kentucky-Appalachian State) drew a 1.0 (+10%) and 1.62 million (+5%), followed immediately after by the New Mexico Bowl (UTEP-Fresno State) at a 0.9 (-15%) and 1.52 million (-20%). Tuesday afternoon’s Idaho Potato Bowl drew 1.28 million, up 40% from last year (Tulane-Nevada: 914K) but down 6% from a Friday afternoon, post-New Year’s game in 2019 (1.36M).
Monday’s Coastal Carolina-Northern Illinois Cure Bowl on ESPN2 (0.8, 1.27M) sank 43% in ratings and 52% in viewership from last year, but that comes with the caveat that last season’s game aired on ESPN — and featured a ranked, undefeated Coastal Carolina team. It ranks as the network’s fourth-largest audience of the ongoing season.
In other action, last Saturday’s Mobile Bowl (Eastern Michigan-Liberty) drew a 0.7 (+23%) and 1.23 million (+34%); Tuesday’s Frisco Bowl (San Diego State-UTSA) drew 1.15 million opposite a rescheduled NFL game (-8% from the previous edition in 2019); Saturday’s New Orleans Bowl (Louisiana-Marshall) was the most-watched in three years with a 0.6 (+14%) and 1.07 million (+15%).
Rounding out the early bowl slate, Monday’s Myrtle Beach Bowl (Old Dominion-Tulsa) jumped 44% to 918,000 viewers; last Friday’s Bahamas Bowl (Middle Tennessee-Toledo) was the most-watched in four years with a 0.6 (+4%) and 851,000 (+15%).
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily, network PR]
