The Quick Lane Bowl was the most-watched of the five new games this year. In other news, Kentucky/Louisville improved over last year despite moving from CBS to ESPN2, and the final event of ISU Grand Prix of figure skating declined slightly on NBC.
Quick Lane Bowl Tops New Games
- Friday’s Rutgers/UNC Quick Lane Bowl drew 2.9 million viewers on ESPN, the largest audience of the five new bowls this season (five telecasts). The Marshall/Northern Illinois Boca Raton Bowl earned the second-largest audience (2.2M) and the Western Kentucky/Central Michigan Bahamas Bowl ranked third (1.5M). As previously reported, the Miami Beach and Camellia Bowl drew 1.3 and 1.1 million, respectively. (via ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2], [3])
Kentucky/Louisville Up Over Last Year
- The Kentucky/Louisville college basketball game drew 3.5 million viewers on ESPN2 Saturday afternoon, up 8% from last year’s game between the rivals, which aired on broadcast network CBS (3.2M). The game aired on ESPN2 this year to accommodate college football bowl coverage on both CBS and ESPN. (via ShowBuzz Daily)
Slight Drop For ISU GP Final on NBC
- NBC drew 1.1 million viewers for taped coverage of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating final on December 21, down 8% from last year (1.2M). The seven ISU GP events on NBC averaged 936,000 viewers, with the Rostelecom Cup from Russia topping the charts (1.2M). (via NBC Sports)
