Leading into this year’s College Football Playoff semifinals, the Peach Bowl delivered modest gains in ratings and viewership.
Thursday’s Houston/Florida State Peach Bowl drew a 3.7 final rating and 5.6 million viewers on ESPN, up 9% in ratings and 12% in viewership from TCU/Mississippi last year (3.4, 5.0M) but down 26% and 36%, respectively, from Texas A&M/Duke in primetime two years ago (5.0, 8.7M).
The Cougars’ upset win scored the second-smallest Peach Bowl audience in the past ten seasons, ahead of only last year. The bowl topped seven million viewers in four of the five seasons before it became part of the New Year’s Six, with the caveat that it aired in primetime during those years.
The Peach Bowl was the lowest rated and least-watched game of this year’s New Year’s Six, no surprise given the early New Year’s Eve timeslot. The 3.7 rating is the second-lowest for a major bowl game since before the formation of the BCS, ahead of only last year’s 3.4.
Despite the low numbers for this year’s New Year’s Six, four of the six bowls posted year-over-year increases — the Peach, Fiesta, Cotton and Orange, the latter two benefiting from hosting the playoff semifinals.
(Thu. numbers from ESPN, ShowBuzz Daily)
