SPORTS WRAP College Football Bowls Over Audiences

There’s been no shortage of criticism surrounding the College Football postseason – even the President-elect threw in his two cents – but there’s no denying the bowl season still generates a huge amount of viewer interest.

There is no better bellwether than this year’s BCS National Championship between Oklahoma and Florida. Last night’s FedEx BCS National Championship received a 15.8 rating, up 16% from last year’s game.

In the metered markets, Oklahoma City had the highest local rating, with 51.7% of the Sooners’ home DMA tuning into the game. Five local Florida markets also made the top ten, led by Jacksonville with a 40.2 local rating.

BCS National Championship

Market	HH Rating
Oklahoma City	51.7
Tulsa	46.9
Birmingham	41.6
Jacksonville	40.2
Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota)	32.3
Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn	30.6
Austin	29.9
West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce	29.5
Ft. Myers-Naples	28.2
Source: 2009 The Nielsen Company

Viewership for the other four BCS bowls was also up compared to last year. The Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Texas was up 40%, the Sugar Bowl was up 14%, and viewership for the Rose Bowl increased 8%.

Outside the BCS, the positive trend continued with 17 of 27 bowls outperforming last year’s ratings.  Most notable were four bowl games airing on ESPN that boasted triple-digit increases in viewership:

• The Humanitarian Bowl between Maryland and Nevada was seen by 3 million viewers, a whopping 218% increase over last year’s game.
• The Hawaii Bowl was proof that Notre Dame still can still deliver a large audience (and a victory),  in front of 4.4 million viewers up 119% over last year’s game.
• The Poinsettia Bowl on Dec.23  and the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6 showed that there is demand for Bowls well before and after New Year’s, sporting 115% and 113% increases in viewers, respectively.

Below is a full recap of national viewers for this year’s bowl games.

2008-9 College Football Bowl Game National Viewers
BOWL	NETWORK	MATCHUP	VIEWERS P2+	% Change YAGO
BCS TITLE	FOX	OKLAHOMA/FLORIDA	26,767,000	16%
ROSE	ABC	PENN STATE/USC	20,603,000	8%
FIESTA	FOX	TEXAS/OHIO STATE	17,056,000	40%
SUGAR	FOX	UTAH/ALABAMA	13,369,000	14%
CAPITAL ONE	ABC	GEORGIA/MICHIGAN STATE	10,839,000	-27%
ORANGE	FOX	VIRGINIA TECH/CINCINNATI	9,319,000	-22%
CHAMPS SPORTS	ESPN	WISCONSIN/FLORIDA STATE	7,059,000	51%
GATOR	CBS	NEBRASKA/CLEMSON	6,603,000	64%
EMERALD	ESPN	MIAMI (FL)/CALIFORNIA	6,508,000	40%
COTTON	FOX	MISSISSIPPI/TEXAS TECH	6,407,000	13%
HOLIDAY	ESPN	OKLAHOMA ST/OREGON	6,220,000	9%
ALAMO	ESPN	MISSOURI/NORTHWESTERN	6,076,000	59%
MEINEKE CAR CARE	ESPN	WEST VIRGINIA/NORTH CAROLINA	5,881,000	26%
CHICK-FIL-A	ESPN	LSU/GEORGIA TECH	5,635,000	-25%
POINSETTIA	ESPN	BOISE STATE/TCU	5,061,000	115%
HAWAII	ESPN	HAWAII/NOTRE DAME	4,413,000	119%
OUTBACK	ESPN	SOUTH CAROLINA/IOWA	4,093,000	-10%
MUSIC CITY	ESPN	BOSTON COLLEGE/VANDERBILT	3,646,000	-31%
LIBERTY	ESPN	KENTUCKY/EAST CAROLINA	3,607,000	-33%
SUN	CBS	OREGON ST/PITTSBURGH	3,475,000	9%
MOTOR CITY	ESPN	FLORIDA ATLANTIC/CENTRAL MICH	3,437,000	1%
NEW MEXICO	ESPN	COLORADO ST/FRESNO ST	3,432,000	46%
LAS VEGAS	ESPN	BYU/ARIZONA	3,389,000	0%
HUMANITARIAN	ESPN	MARYLAND/NEVADA	3,039,000	218%
EAGLEBANK	ESPN	WAKE FOREST/NAVY	2,875,000	NEW
GMAC	ESPN	BALL STATE/TULSA	2,831,000	113%
INTERNATIONAL	ESPN2	BUFFALO/CONNECTICUT	2,670,000	36%
PAPAJOHNS.COM	ESPN	N.C. STATE/RUTGERS	2,372,000	-14%
ARMED FORCES	ESPN	HOUSTON/AIR FORCE	2,050,000	-21%
ST. PETERSBURG	ESPN2	MEMPHIS/SOUTH FLORIDA	1,661,000	NEW
INDEPENDENCE	ESPN	NORTHERN ILLINOIS/LA TECH	1,207,000	-53%
NEW ORLEANS	ESPN	SOUTHERN MISS/TROY	1,115,000	-48%
INSIGHT	NFLN	KANSAS/MINNESOTA	731,000	5%
TEXAS	NFLN	WESTERN MICHIGAN/RICE	186,000	-64%
Source: 2009 The Nielsen Company Covereage Area Estimates (% of US TV Homes): ESPN 86%, ESPN2 85%, NFLN 37%. Live + Same Day Viewing NOTE: This table was updated on 1/9/09 at 5:10pm.