With the new playoffs taking center stage, fewer college football bowls earned blockbuster numbers this year.
The College Football Playoff generated the three largest college football audiences in the past five years, with each game earning at least 28 million viewers. The Ohio State/Oregon title game topped the charts at 34.1 million on ESPN’s family of networks, the most-watched college football telecast since the USC/Texas Rose Bowl in 2006.
The three playoff games were the only telecasts of the bowl season to earn at least ten million viewers, the fewest since the 2011-12 season. Five bowls topped ten million last year, and seven did in 2012-13. The Orange and Fiesta bowls sank from over 11 million viewers last year to under 9 million this year, just two of several bowl games to hit multi-year viewership lows.
The Peach, Hawaii and Las Vegas were the least-watched in at least eight years, the Potato and GoDaddy in seven, the Alamo and Cactus in four, and the Citrus in three. The New Mexico Bowl hit a record-low.
That is not to suggest that the bowl season was a bust outside of the playoffs. Several non-playoff games hit multi-year highs, with the Holiday Bowl the most-watched in nine years, the Belk and Independence in at least eight, and the Music City and Liberty in four. The Texas, Birmingham, Heart of Dallas, St. Petersburg and Military each set viewership records.
The Cotton Bowl (5.2, 9.0M) was the top non-playoff game, the Holiday (4.0, 6.8M) was the top non-New Year’s Six game, and the new Camellia Bowl brought up the rear (0.7, 1.1M).
| Bowl | Net | 2014-15 | 2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Championship Ohio State def. Oregon |
ESPN | 18.6 34.15M |
14.8 26.06M |
15.1 26.38M |
14.0 24.21M |
15.3 27.32M |
| Sugar Bowl (Semi #2) Ohio State def. Alabama |
ESPN | 15.2 28.27M |
9.3 16.34M |
6.2 10.13M |
6.1 9.71M |
8.2 13.64M |
| Rose Bowl (Semi #1) Oregon def. FSU |
ESPN | 14.8 28.16M |
10.2 18.64M |
9.4 17.02M |
10.2 17.56M |
11.3 20.56M |
| Cotton Bowl MSU def. Baylor |
ESPN | 5.2 9.09M |
3.9 6.54M |
7.2 11.94M |
5.0 8.36M |
5.8 10.01M |
| Orange Bowl Ga. Tech def. Miss. St. |
ESPN | 5.0 8.94M |
6.7 11.40M |
6.1 10.56M |
4.5 7.17M |
6.7 10.68M |
| Fiesta Bowl Boise St. def Arizona |
ESPN | 4.6 7.41M |
6.6 11.24M |
7.4 12.31M |
8.4 13.68M |
6.2 10.82M |
| Holiday Bowl USC def. Nebraska |
ESPN | 4.0 6.80M |
2.2 3.51M |
2.0 2.92M |
2.7 4.26M |
3.5 5.65M |
| Outback Bowl Wisconsin def. Auburn |
ESPN2 | 3.8 6.42M |
3.2 5.44M |
4.3 7.58M |
5.1 8.17M |
7.1 12.45M |
| Belk Bowl Georgia def. Louisville |
ESPN | 3.8 6.41M |
3.1 4.77M |
2.6 3.87M |
2.2 3.47M |
2.0 2.90M |
| Citrus Bowl Missouri def. Minnesota |
ABC | 3.7 6.12M |
5.6 9.59M |
6.6 10.95M |
2.9 4.50M |
3.7 6.05M |
| Texas Bowl Arkansas def. Texas |
ESPN | 3.4 5.76M |
2.5 3.99M |
2.9 4.56M |
2.7 3.90M |
2.7 4.18M |
| Alamo Bowl UCLA def. Kansas State |
ESPN | 3.4 5.60M |
4.5 7.55M |
4.1 6.76M |
4.4 6.92M |
2.8 4.64M |
| Music City Bowl Notre Dame def. LSU |
ESPN | 3.4 5.32M |
2.0 3.12M |
1.4 1.95M |
2.7 4.21M |
4.2 7.11M |
| Peach Bowl TCU def. Mississippi |
ESPN | 3.4 5.01M |
5.0 8.69M |
4.8 8.56M |
3.6 6.16M |
4.3 7.49M |
| Russell Athletic Bowl Clemson def. Oklahoma |
ESPN | 3.0 4.90M |
3.5 5.75M |
2.5 3.94M |
3.3 5.23M |
2.1 3.26M |
| Birmingham Bowl Florida def. ECU |
ESPN | 3.0 4.48M |
1.8 2.57M |
1.9 2.67M |
1.5 2.01M |
2.2 3.30M |
| Gator Bowl Tennessee def. Iowa |
ESPN | 2.6 4.11M |
2.6 4.52M |
1.4 2.23M |
1.9 2.95M |
1.7 2.83M |
| Independence Bowl South Carolina def. Miami |
ABC | 2.5 4.11M |
1.4 2.05M |
1.3 1.74M |
1.5 2.48M |
1.4 2.23M |
| Cactus Bowl Okla. St. def. Washington |
ESPN | 2.4 4.03M |
2.8 4.38M |
2.7 4.42M |
3.0 4.81M |
2.2 3.56M |
| Pinstripe Bowl PSU def. Boston College |
ESPN | 2.4 3.96M |
3.2 4.84M |
3.4 5.15M |
2.1 3.22M |
2.3 3.46M |
| Sun Bowl Arizona St. def. Duke |
CBS | 2.3 3.56M |
2.4 3.68M |
2.7 3.97M |
2.7 4.11M |
3.0 4.61M |
| Liberty Bowl Texas A&M def. WVU |
ESPN | 2.2 3.30M |
1.7 2.47M |
1.7 2.70M |
1.9 2.97M |
3.0 4.76M |
| San Francisco Bowl Stanford def. Maryland |
ESPN | 2.1 3.24M |
2.3 3.75M |
0.7 1.07M |
2.3 3.46M |
1.6 2.50M |
| St. Petersburg Bowl N.C. State def. UCF |
ESPN | 2.0 3.27M |
0.9 1.27M |
1.3 1.91M |
1.5 2.17M |
2.0 3.00M |
| Military Bowl Va. Tech def. Cincinnati |
ESPN | 1.8 2.92M |
1.7 2.58M |
1.3 1.91M |
1.5 2.30M |
1.5 2.13M |
| Quick Lane Bowl Rutgers def. UNC |
ESPN | 1.8 2.87M |
NO GAME | |||
| Poinsettia Bowl Navy def. SDSU |
ESPN | 1.6 2.46M |
2.2 3.28M |
1.5 2.20M |
2.1 3.11M |
2.3 3.57M |
| New Orleans Bowl UL-Lafayette def. Nevada |
ESPN | 1.6 2.25M |
1.3 2.07M |
1.8 2.64M |
1.6 2.35M |
1.3 2.10M |
| Heart of Dallas Bowl La. Tech def. Illinois |
ESPN | 1.5 2.34M |
0.2 332K |
0.5 943K |
N/A | N/A |
| Armed Forces Bowl Houston def. Pittsburgh |
ESPN | 1.5 2.11M |
1.1 1.65M |
2.3 3.27M |
1.4 2.03M |
1.3 1.90M |
| Boca Raton Bowl Marshall def. NIU |
ESPN | 1.4 2.25M |
NO GAME | |||
| Las Vegas Bowl Utah def. Colorado St. |
ABC | 1.4 2.12M |
2.2 3.32M |
2.9 4.43M |
2.1 3.14M |
3.3 5.36M |
| New Mexico Bowl Utah St. def. UTEP |
ESPN | 1.3 1.92M |
1.8 2.77M |
1.8 2.57M |
1.5 2.20M |
1.8 2.79M |
| Hawaii Bowl Rice def. Fresno St. |
ESPN | 1.3 1.91M |
1.7 2.73M |
1.4 2.44M |
1.4 2.49M |
2.1 3.71M |
| Bahamas Bowl WKU def. CMU |
ESPN | 1.1 1.50M |
NO GAME | |||
| Potato Bowl Air Force def. WMU |
ESPN | 0.9 1.45M |
1.4 2.06M |
1.9 2.81M |
1.7 2.41M |
1.8 2.90M |
| GoDaddy Bowl Toledo def. Ark. State |
ESPN | 0.9 1.37M |
1.1 1.71M |
1.3 1.94M |
1.2 1.78M |
1.7 2.62M |
| Miami Beach Bowl Memphis def. BYU |
ESPN | 0.9 1.32M |
NO GAME | |||
| Camellia Bowl BGSU def. So. Alabama |
ESPN | 0.7 1.11M |
NO GAME | |||
