By Flint Wheeler
Starting with the College Football Playoff games and finishing with an NFL Wild Card game, ESPN (Owned by Disney) had a good week, make that a very good week.
ESPN was recently named the top cable network for 2014 and had the most-viewed cable program of 2014 with the BCS Championship game — which was the only program in last year’s top 10 that was not an episode of the Walking Dead — and seem to have no signs of slowing down in the new year.
The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl averaged 28 million viewers, and the Arizona-Carolina Wild Card game nabbed 21 million, giving ESPN three of the top 10 cable audiences ever over the course of three days.
The two highest-rated broadcasts in cable TV history now belong to ESPN thanks to the new college football playoffs. The College Football Playoff games had the two largest audiences in cable television history, and the NFL Wild Card playoff game was the ninth highest-rated program in cable television history. Per an ESPN press release, the Worldwide Leader now holds the largest 18 audiences in cable television history, and 36 of the top 40.
Other than the staggering numbers, the interesting part of this ratings result is that the college football games beat the NFL. There are a number of qualifiers involved in that — the college games meant more in the championship hunt, were closer to and in prime time, were on New Year’s Day, etc. — but any sporting event beating something involved with the NFL is news.
The Sugar Bowl telecast was up 130 percent in viewers from last year’s Alabama-Oklahoma BCS game, and the Rose Bowl viewership increased 45 percent. It was a huge hit on social media for the network, as well as its online WatchESPN platform, which set the record for college football with 912,000 unique viewers, which is up 116 from last year. While the Rose Bowl had technical difficulties initially, it still received 816,000 unique viewers on WatchESPN.
Thursday night’s games also drew huge live crowds: Attendance at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl was 91,322, while the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans was attended by more than 70,000 fans.
The Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes will now meet for the national championship, which will be played on January 12 in Arlington, Texas
It seems that the country is interested in the College Football Playoff, and it was helped by compelling games between four high-profile teams. Next year might not be as highly rated with both semifinal games airing on Dec. 31, but it shouldn’t be much of a downturn if the right teams are selected.
The ratings are welcome news for ESPN, which reportedly paid $7.3 billion for the rights to the playoff through 2025. ESPN doesn’t have any NFL playoff games remaining on its schedule, but the ratings for the Oregon-Ohio State championship game on Jan. 12 should be gigantic and set another record.
Founder of Silex Strategies L.L.C. providing sales and consulting in Insurance, Retirement, Real Estate and Taxes through A.I.G./Valic. PGA Class A Member and T.P.I. Certified Golf Trainer. Host of “The Tilted Sports Radio Show” on Fox Sports 1270 from 3-7pm on Thursdays, Live from The Kilt. Contact at 760-409-4612 www.flintwheeler.com
