Ratings and viewership for the Orange Bowl increased, but remained less-than-stellar.
Tuesday’s Iowa/Georgia Tech Orange Bowl drew a 6.8/11 final rating and 10.9 million viewers on FOX, up 26% in ratings and 17% in viewership from last year’s Virginia Tech/Cincinnati matchup (5.4, 9.3 mil), but down 8% and 9%, respectively, from Kansas/Virginia Tech in ’08 (7.4, 12.0 mil).
Iowa/Georgia Tech stands as the second-lowest rated BCS bowl of all time, ahead of only last year’s Orange Bowl.
Overall, four of the five lowest rated BCS bowls have been Orange Bowls, including the two lowest-rated games. In four years on FOX, the Orange Bowl failed to draw even a 7.5 rating — and finished as the lowest rated of the five BCS bowls on three occasions (’07, ’09 and ’10).
For the third straight year, the Orange Bowl drew a lower rating and fewer viewers than the non-BCS Capital One Bowl on ABC (6.9, 11.7 mil).
The three BCS bowls on FOX (Sugar, Fiesta and Orange) averaged a 7.9/13 rating and 13.4 million viewers, flat in ratings but up 1% in viewership compared to the same three bowls last year (7.9, 13.3 mil).
To put the numbers in perspective, none of the bowls on FOX managed to draw even close to the ratings of the SEC Championship Game on CBS in December (11.1, 18.0 mil).
Ratings/viewership for the Orange Bowl since ’96
Asterisk (*) indicates National Championship Game
| Year | Date | Game | Net | Rating | Viewers (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Tue., 1/5/10 | Iowa/Georgia Tech | FOX |
6.8
|
10,900
|
| 2009 | Thu., 1/1/09 | Virginia Tech/Cincinnati | FOX |
5.4
|
9,319
|
| 2008 | Thu., 1/3/08 | Kansas/Virginia Tech | FOX |
7.4
|
11,958
|
| 2007 | Tue., 1/2/07 | Louisville/Wake Forest | FOX |
7.0
|
10,660
|
| 2006 | Tue., 1/3/06 | Penn St./Florida St. | ABC |
12.3
|
18,557
|
| 2005 | Tue., 1/4/05 | USC/Oklahoma* | ABC |
13.7
|
21,419
|
| 2004 | Thu., 1/1/04 | Miami/Florida St. | ABC |
9.1
|
14,183
|
| 2003 | Thu., 1/2/03 | USC/Iowa | ABC |
9.7
|
15,235
|
| 2002 | Wed., 1/2/02 | Florida/Maryland | ABC |
9.5
|
14,027
|
| 2001 | Wed., 1/3/01 | Oklahoma/Florida St.* | ABC |
17.8
|
27,240
|
| 2000 | Sat., 1/1/00 | Michigan/Alabama | ABC |
11.4
|
—
|
| 1999 | Sat., 1/2/99 | Florida/Syracuse | ABC |
8.4
|
—
|
| 1998 | Fri., 1/2/98 | Nebraska/Tennessee* | CBS |
13.3
|
—
|
| 1997 | Tue., 12/31/96 | Nebraska/Virginia Tech | CBS |
7.8
|
—
|
| 1996 | Mon., 1/1/96 | Florida St./Notre Dame | CBS |
12.5
|
—
|
