Despite a record-breaking performance, the Russell Athletic Bowl saw television numbers drop in this year’s game. But it was still a top-watched bowl game.
Despite a record-breaking performance from Baylor in the win over North Carolina, the Russell Athletic Bowl viewership nationally was down from last year’s game.
According to SportsMediaWatch.com, this year’s Russell Athletic Bowl garnered 4.2 million viewers nationally which is 14 percent down from last year’s game between Clemson and Oklahoma and down 27 percent from the 2013’s game between Miami and Louisville. Keep in mind Miami-Louisville game was played on a Saturday night.
Despite the numbers being down, the game was the fourth most viewed bowl game played prior to December 31 that aired on ESPN behind only the Texas Bowl between LSU and Texas Tech, which followed Baylor-North Carolina that night, with 5.0 million viewers, the Music City Bowl between Texas A&M and Louisville (5.4 million viewers) and the Holiday Bowl between USC and Wisconsin (4.2 million viewers) the following day.
In Orlando, The Russell Athletic Bowl garnered 74,760 viewers which was the most watched sporting event of the day beating the Texas Bowl which garnered 63,590 viewers.
Overall the Russell Athletic Bowl was the third most-watched program in Orlando on Dec. 29 behind CBS’s NCIS rerun with 131,063 viewers and Kennedy Center Honors with 85,701 viewers.
The Russell Athletic Bowl, which got a 2.6 rating, ranks as the 15th most watched bowl game out of 40, which includes having more viewers then New Year’s Day Outback Bowl in Tampa between Northwestern and Tennessee, which had 2.8 million viewers which equals to a 1.8 TV rating.
In contrast, the Michigan/Florida Citrus Bowl drew a 5.4 overnight rating on ABC on New Year’s Day, ranking as the fifth most watched bowl game of the year only trailing the Stanford/Iowa in the Rose Bowl (7.9) and Ohio State/Notre Dame in the Fiesta (6.2). The Citrus Bowl went head to head with the Fiesta Bowl in the 1 p.m. time slot on January 1.
The two playoff games also have better numbers with Orange Bowl between Clemson and Oklahoma (9.7) and Cotton Bowl between Alabama and Michigan State (9.9). It is currently the most watched Bowl game in Orlando.
