Big Ten Blog

Big Ten excels in bowl TV ratings

January, 14, 2010

1/14/10

11:30

AM ET

TV ratings for this year's bowl games went up by an average of eight percent, and the Big Ten once again helped the viewership.

The Big Ten had teams playing in four of the top seven most viewed bowls, and the league saw increased ratings in four of its tie-in games. The Birmingham News has all the particulars in this handy chart.

Here's what you need to know:

The Rose Bowl matchup between Ohio State and Oregon on ABC drew the second-highest rating (13.2) -- behind the BCS title game -- and reached 5,143,000 households and 24,025,000 viewers.
The Capital One Bowl between Penn State and LSU drew the fifth-highest rating (6.8), and had a six percent increase in viewership from last year.
The Orange Bowl between Iowa and Georgia Tech ranks sixth with a 6.8 rating but had a 26 percent increase in viewership.
The Outback Bowl between Northwestern and Auburn had a 30 percent increase in viewership on ESPN.
The Alamo Bowl matchup between Michigan State and Texas Tech was ESPN's most viewed bowl and the fifth-highest rated ever. It reached 5,554,000 households and 7,829,000 viewers, and drew a rating of 4.8, which ranked seventh overall and represented a 23 percent increase in viewership.
The Champs Sports Bowl between Wisconsin and Miami ranked 12th with a 3.9 rating but had a 13 percent drop in viewership.
The only significant downside for the Big Ten in viewership was the Insight Bowl between Minnesota and Iowa State, which drew the lowest rating (0.4) of the 34 bowls.

Adam Rittenberg | email

College Football

ESPN.com Big Ten blogger
Joined ESPN.com in 2008
Wrote for Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald

Tags:

Purdue Boilermakers, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Penn State Nittany Lions, Big Ten Conference, Michigan State Spartans, Northwestern Wildcats, Ohio State Buckeyes, Wisconsin Badgers, Iowa Hawkeyes

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Adam Rittenberg

Rittenberg joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four years at the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald, where he covered sports at Notre Dame, Northwestern, DePaul and several other colleges. He lives in Chicago.

Brian Bennett

Bennett joined ESPN.com in August 2008 after nine years at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., where he covered college sports and the University of Louisville beat. He lives in Louisville.

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