Moved up by more than a week, the Humanitarian Bowl suffered a decline in both ratings and viewership Saturday afternoon.
The Northern Illinois/Fresno State Humanitarian Bowl drew a 1.8 U.S. rating and 2.896 million viewers on ESPN Saturday afternoon, down 14% in ratings and 4% in viewership from last year (IDAHO/BGSU: 2.1, 3.014 mil), and down 14% and 5%, respectively, from 2008 (MD/NEV: 2.1, 3.039 mil).
This marks the least-viewed Humanitarian Bowl since 2007 (FRESNO/GT: 745,000, ESPN2).
The 2009 and 2008 games both took place on December 30. This year’s game had the earliest date of any Humanitarian Bowl.
Despite the declines, the game drew the largest bowl audience of the day.
Ratings for the New Mexico Bowl are available here. For New Orleans Bowl ratings, click here.
