Recent sports TV ratings news, including a steep drop for the delayed Heisman Trophy Presentation and mixed results for an assortment of bowl games.
Delayed Heisman Trophy Presentation down 40 percent
Tuesday’s Heisman Trophy Presentation averaged a Nielsen-estimated 1.52 million viewers on ESPN, the smallest audience for the event since at least the turn of the century. The previous low was 2.17 million in 2001. Viewership fell 40% from last year (2.54M) and 48% from two years ago (2.93M).
Keep in mind that this year’s Heisman presentation took place about three weeks later than usual. The event typically takes place on the weekend following the conference championship games, rather than the week of the national championship. In addition, it faced competing election coverage on the cable news networks.
Outback Bowl hits high, Gator and Citrus hit lows
Last Saturday’s Outback Bowl (Mississippi-Indiana) was the highest rated and most-watched in three years with a 2.5 (+4%) and 4.11 million (+3%) on ABC. It was the first Outback Bowl on broadcast television in four years. In the same window on ESPN, the Kentucky-NC State Gator Bowl pulled a 1.7 (-35%) and 2.71 million (-37%), the lowest for that game in four years.
Later in the day, the Fiesta Bowl (Iowa State-Oregon) had a 3.8 and 6.68 million and the Orange Bowl (Texas A&M-UNC) a 4.3 and 7.58 million. Additional details are available in this post.
In other action, ABC averaged a 2.8 and 4.78 million for the New Year’s Day Citrus Bowl (Auburn-Northwestern), the lowest rated edition of that game since at least 1995 and the least-watched since 2012 (South Carolina-Nebraska: 4.50M). Last year’s Alabama-Michigan Citrus Bowl was dramatically higher at an 8.0 and 14.0 million.
CBS drew a 1.1 and 1.77 million for the New Year’s Eve Arizona Bowl (Ball State-San Jose State), down sharply from its lone bowl game last season, the Sun Bowl (Arizona State-FSU: 2.1, 3.17M).
Sans-bowl game, quieter New Year’s Eve for ESPN
Airing in place of the canceled Texas Bowl, the New Year’s Eve Michigan-Maryland men’s college basketball game averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.41 million viewers, followed by a 0.37 and 631,000 for Colorado-USC later in the night. Neither game could compare to ESPN’s primetime New Year’s Eve fare a year earlier, the Alamo Bowl (5.61M).
