College football bowl ratings went in opposite directions on Friday. In other news, the Warriors continue to deliver for the NBA’s broadcast partners, the NHL dropped on NBCSN last week, and CBS Sports Classic overnights could not measure up to last year.
Bowl Ratings: Friday Games Mixed
Friday’s Wyoming-Central Michigan Idaho Bowl earned 1.5 million viewers on ESPN, up 31% from last year (Idaho-CSU: 1.14M) and up 39% from 2015 (Akron-Utah State: 1.08M). It was the most-watched edition of the game since 2013 (SDSU-Buffalo: 2.1M), marking just the third of nine bowls through Friday to post an increase.
Earlier in the day, Ohio-UAB had 882,000 viewers in the Bahamas Bowl — down 36% from last year (Old Dominion-EMU: 1.4M) and down 59% from 2015 (WMU-MTSU: 2.1M). It was the least-watched edition of the four-year old bowl.
Both of Friday’s bowls were decided by 20+ points, bringing the total to six of nine. Of those six routs, four have hit multi-year viewership lows.
Warriors Moving Needle
Lakers-Warriors scored 2.3 million viewers on ESPN’s
NBA Friday last week, the eighth-largest audience of the season entering Christmas Day. Ratings were not immediately available. Golden State has played in five of the top ten games thus far.
Earlier in the night, Clippers-Rockets had 1.7 million. There were no comparable windows last year.
Wednesday NHL Down For Third Straight Week
Red Wings-Flyers scored 402,000 viewers on last week’s NHL Wednesday Night Rivalry on NBCSN, down 29% from Capitals-Flyers last year (565K). The last three Wednesday night games have declined by double-digits. Viewership was unavailable for NBCSN’s two other NHL games last week.
CBS Sports Classic Overnights Drop
UCLA-Kentucky drew a 1.9 overnight rating in the back half of Saturday’s CBS Sports Classic, down 21% from Kentucky-North Carolina last year (2.4), but up 12% from Ohio State-Kentucky in 2015 (1.7). Earlier in the day, Ohio State-North Carolina had a 1.2 (-8%).
[Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 12.26, Sports Business Daily 12.26]
