College Football Ratings Roundup: ESPN’s CFP Semis Up 14% From 2016; Rose Bowl Overnight Up Nearly 20%

The College Football Playoff Semifinals (December 31, 2016 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.) delivered double-digit total live audience (TV + streaming) growth and increased its television audience in both games compared to last season’s semifinals. The College Football Playoff Semifinals averaged a total live audience of 19,728,000 viewers, up 14% from last season’s College Football Playoff Semifinal doubleheader on December 31, 2015 (4 p.m. and 8 p.m.) which averaged a total live audience of 17,360,000 viewers.

New Year’s Six Up Double Digits, Easily Most-Streamed New Year’s Six Ever

ESPN’s presentation of the New Year’s Six generated an average total live audience of 13,955,000 viewers per game, up 16% from  last season’s presentation of the same six games – including the College Football Playoff Semifinals being up double digits and the Orange Bowl up 30%****. This year’s average audience of nearly 14 million viewers was down just 6% a game from the record-setting inaugural year (December 31, 2014 – January 1, 2015).

CFP Semifinals Up 14% From Last Year
The College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl between Washington and Alabama (December 31 at 3 p.m.) delivered a total live audience of 19,814,000 viewers, a 24% increase from last season’s College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl between Clemson and Oklahoma (December 31, 2015 at 4 p.m.).

The College Football Playoff Semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Clemson (December 31 at 7 p.m.) delivered a total live audience of 19,646,000 viewers for the lopsided Tigers’ 31-0 victory, up 4% from last season’s College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between Michigan State and Alabama (December 31 at 8 p.m.).

On TV only (ESPN and ESPN2), the Peach Bowl averaged 19,344,000 viewers and the Fiesta Bowl averaged 19,236,000 viewers, an increase of 23% and 3%, respectively, from last season’s Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl.  Both games set streaming records.

Rose Bowl Rating Up 17%
The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual between USC and Penn State (January 2 at 5 p.m. ET) delivered a total live audience of 16,040,000 viewers, the most-watched non-semifinal New Year’s Six game ever. The last-minute USC victory saw a viewership increase of 17% from last year’s Rose Bowl Game (Stanford vs. Iowa) which was played on its traditional January 1 date (5 p.m. on ESPN).

The Rose Bowl peaked at 19,656,000 viewers in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, which included USC’s game-winning field goal (9 p.m. – 9:29 p.m.). Locally, Philadelphia (16.7) set a new market record for the game, while in Pittsburgh (17.0) and Los Angeles (14.9) it was the second highest-rated bowl game ever on ESPN. The complete top 10 markets, as well as specific streaming data was released this morning.

Sugar Bowl up 7%
The Allstate Sugar Bowl between Auburn and Oklahoma (8:30 p.m. on ESPN*) generated a total live audience of 9,713,000 viewers, up 7% from last year’s Sugar Bowl (Oklahoma State vs. Ole Miss) which was played on January 1 (8:30 p.m. on ESPN). Birmingham (31.2 rating) was the No. 1 local market, with Oklahoma City (29.7) and Tulsa (26.3) rounding out the top 3.

Cotton Bowl Draws 5.75 Million Viewers
The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between Western Michigan and Wisconsin (1 p.m. on ESPN) delivered a total live audience of 5,575,000 viewers, which includes an increase of 55% in the streaming audience from the 2014 Cotton Bowl