Solid New Year’s Day of College Football on ESPN and ABC

 

MOST OF DAY’S BOWL GAMES DRAW SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER NUMBERS THAN 2012′S GAMES

By Douglas Pucci
Follow @SonOfTheBronx

On New Year’s Day 2013, ESPN and ABC mostly experienced ratings gains for its annual bowl game telecasts, compared to last year, according to Nielsen’s Fast National ratings.

The telecast of ESPN’s Discover Orange Bowl, with Florida State defeating Northern Illinois 31-10, was the top program of the night of all of television — broadcast or cable — with 10.562 million total viewers, which is up a significant 47 percent in viewers from last year’s Orange Bowl (West Virginia vs. Clemson) that had aired on Wednesday, January 4, 2012.

Earlier in the day, the Capital One Bowl telecast on ABC, featuring the Georgia defeat of Nebraska 45-31, delivered 10.954 million total viewers — up 35 percent from 2012′s Outback Bowl on ABC.

ESPN’s Outback Bowl telecast, with South Carolina defeating Michigan 33-28, delivered 7.583 million total viewers — up 69 percent from 2012′s Capital One Bowl on ESPN.

Only the day’s top bowl game telecast, ESPN’s 2013 Rose Bowl Game, where Stanford beat Wisconsin 20-14, experienced a decline in audience from last year, albeit a slight one: an average of 17.024 million total viewers — down 3 percent in viewers from the 2012 Rose Bowl (Oregon vs. Wisconsin).