The New Year’s Day combination of the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl on ESPN finished higher in the overnight ratings than last year. According to ESPN, the combined overnight rating was an 8.0 which is 11% higher than last year’s 7.2 combined overnight for the two games.
Individually, the Rose Bowl featuring Wisconsin and Stanford received an average 9.6 overnight rating, down from the 2012 game which garnered a 9.9. According to Austin Karp of Sports Media Journal, the overnight number for the Rose Bowl could be the lowest dating back to 1985 when ABC carried the game.
The Orange Bowl which had Northern Illinois facing Florida State averaged a 6.5 overnight which is 45% better than 2012 which could only muster a 4.5.
Interesting that ESPN is combining these two bowls and comparing them directly when last year’s combo on New Year’s Day was the Rose and Fiesta. When you compare those two from last year to this year’s the ratings would be down.
We have the ESPN press release.
Combined Overnight Ratings for Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl BCS Games Rises over 2012
ESPN’s first two Bowl Championship Series telecasts of 2013 – the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl on Tuesday, Jan. 1 – combined to average an 8.0 metered market rating, according to Nielsen. The two-game average marks an increase of 11 percent over a 7.2 average overnight rating for the 2012 Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl games.
The 2013 Orange Bowl – No. 12 Florida State beating No. 15 Northern Illinois 31-10 – averaged a 6.5 overnight. With the telecast, ESPN won the night as television’s most-watched network – broadcast or cable. This year’s telecast is 44 percent higher than the 2012 game, a 4.5 rating for No. 23 West Virginia defeating No. 15 Clemson 70-33.
The 2013 Rose Bowl, in which No. 6 Stanford defeated unranked Wisconsin 20-14, earned a 9.6 overnight, the highest on cable television outside of ESPN’s NFL games since the 2012 Bowl Championship Series National Championship. The telecast is down 3 percent from a 9.9 rating for last year’s game, which saw No. 5 Oregon defeat No. 10 Wisconsin 45-38 in the highest scoring Rose Bowl ever.<
In the markets of participating teams, the Rose Bowl averaged a 31.1 rating in Milwaukee, the second highest rating for an ESPN bowl game in the market on record (back to 2000). ESPN’s coverage earned a 12.3 rating in San Francisco, the market’s third highest-rated bowl on ESPN networks. The telecast also averaged a 20.7 in Birmingham, 19.8 in Columbus, 15.6 in Dayton and 14.0 in Portland.
The Orange Bowl averaged an 11.1 overnight in Chicago, the second highest ESPN bowl rating in Chicago on record. It also garnered a 14.1 in Jacksonville and 11.9 in Orlando, marking the fourth and third highest-rated bowl games on ESPN in the markets, respectively. ESPN’s coverage recorded a 19.9 in Birmingham, 11.7 in Oklahoma City and 10.7 in Greenville.
That is all.
