A pair of college football bowl games hit multi-year lows over the weekend.
The New Mexico/Texas-San Antonio New Mexico Bowl had a 0.9 final rating and 1.4 million viewers on ESPN Saturday night, down 31% in ratings and 24% in viewership from Arizona/New Mexico last year (1.3, 1.8M) and down 31% and 27% respectively from Utah State/Texas-El Paso in 2014 (1.3, 1.9M).
The Lobos’ win ranks as the lowest rated New Mexico Bowl since at least 2008 and the least-watched since at least 2005. Since hitting 2.8 million in 2013, viewership for the game has declined in each subsequent year.
The New Mexico Bowl was not alone in hitting a multi-year low. Earlier in the day, the Southern Miss/Louisiana-Lafayette New Orleans Bowl had a 0.9 and 1.3 million — flat in ratings but down 6% in viewership from Louisiana Tech/Arkansas State last year (0.9, 1.4M) and down 44% and 41% respectively, from Louisiana-Lafayette/Nevada in 2014 (1.6, 2.2M).
The Golden Eagles’ win was the least-watched New Orleans Bowl since 2009, when Middle Tennessee State/Southern Miss had just 993,000 viewers opposite NFL Sunday Night Football. It also tied the lowest rating since that 2009 game (0.7).
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 12/21)
