The ratings may have been down from ABC in 2010, but for cable, these are stellar numbers and they are the biggest for a college football game on ESPN. The Alleged Worldwide Leader says the viewership numbers are the same from 2009.
On Saturday, the Rose Bowl garnered a 13.1 rating with just over 20.5 million viewers which are pretty staggering for cable and this becomes the third highest audience for cable ever.
ESPN’s Rose Bowl: Cable’s Third-Biggest AudienceHighest Rating Ever on ESPN outside NFL GamesESPN’s first year of televising the entire BCS began with the Rose Bowl garnering third biggest audience in the history of cable television. TCU’s 21-19 victory over Wisconsin earned a 13.1 rating in ESPN’s coverage area (11.3 US rating), according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen, representing an average of 13,054,000 households (20,558,000 viewers, P2+). Only two ESPN Monday Night Football games top those household and audience numbers ever on cable television.On ESPN3.com, the game averaged 71,436 viewers on ESPN3.com, and reached 214,000 unique viewers and a college football live game season-high 13.9 million total minutes of viewing.The Rose Bowl was seen on ESPN by virtually the same number of people as in 2009 and slightly more than 2008. Two years ago, the game received an 11.7 rating on ABC (Penn State-USC); in 2008 it earned an 11.1 (Illinois-USC).Overnight ratings from the metered markets show extremely strong local results: Milwaukee (30.0), Birmingham (28.8), Columbus (26.3) and Dallas (20.1).In addition, that night’s Fiesta Bowl on ESPN, Oklahoma’s 48-20 victory over Connecticut which won the night as the most –watched of all programs (broadcast or cable), earned a 7.1 rating (6.2 US rating). The audience of 7,129,000 homes and 10,819,000 viewers, ranks fourth and second, respectively, in ESPN history (excluding NFL games). Two markets in Oklahoma, Oklahoma City (35.1) and Tulsa (30.7), led the metered markets, followed by Hartford/New Haven (18.4).
There you have it. The numbers don’t lie.
