Ratings for CFP Semis down. Is this a NYE thing?

Saw this. From Breitbart.

The $5.6 billion New Year’s Eve nightmare continued for ESPN, with Saturday’s games averaging only a 10.4 rating, down 32 percent from the 15.4 rating just two years ago. The Sporting News tried to put the best face on the debacle, noting it was not quite as bad as the 9.8 in 2015, which was a 36 percent drop from 2014.

ESPN can now only hope the title game next week between Alabama and Clemson goes better than when the same two teams met last year (see Breitbart Sports story, “‘Embarrassing’ for ESPN: More Watch Basketball Title Than Football Championship”).

The unheard of event of more Americans watching a basketball game than a football game cast wide concern of the $5.6 billion in a 12-year deal ESPN penned for the College Football Playoffs. Last year the Sporting News reported ESPN might need to repay $20 million to advertisers due to the low ratings.

The low ratings occurred despite the fact that ESPN could not have asked for a luckier draw, as the two games featured the best three fan bases in all of college football (1, Alabama, 2, Ohio State and 3, Clemson) and one of the two biggest fan bases from the west in Washington, according to USA Today’s rankings. Geographically the 32% drop is from an apples-to-apples comparison, as the 2014 playoffs featured the same best two fan bases (Alabama and Ohio State), subbed the other top western fan base (Oregon) and also had the ACC champ (Florida State in 2014 compared to Clemson this year).

Posted: 01/02/2017 at 1:32PM

NEXT REPLY

Insert a Link

Enter the title of the link here:

Enter the full web address of the link here -- include the "http://" part:

Current Thread:

Ratings for CFP Semis down. Is this a NYE thing? -- Maroon Baboon 01/02/2017 1:32PM

Yes, it's a NYE thing. file under, "what are they thinking?" ** -- daveinop 01/03/2017 07:42AM

Its very simple, lots of competition for limited air time -- Mercury 01/08/2017 12:07PM

They're being bullied by the Rose Bowl. That's all they are thinking. -- HOO86 01/03/2017 5:12PM

Both games were pretty bad. Not sure how they do the ratings. ** -- Gator Hokie 01/03/2017 07:32AM

I loved the Clemson game, watched every second -- WestyHokie 01/03/2017 11:39AM

I was at a family dinner and NYE gathering. TV wasn't on... -- Hokie CPA 01/04/2017 11:53AM

To a neutral it was blah. ** -- Gator Hokie 01/03/2017 12:59PM

Both semi-final games were blah. It got to the point where I considered -- VTHokie2000 01/03/2017 1:37PM

Maybe the first year is the outlier? -- PadrosWindup 01/02/2017 6:06PM

NYE is silly. Needs to be NYD or 2nd (as with this year). ** -- mica 01/02/2017 2:31PM

They're moving to Saturdays when not on the 1st. ** -- reestuart 01/02/2017 3:34PM

Yep. Over the summer, it was changed. Article. -- HOO86 01/02/2017 3:52PM

Rose Parade is probably a factor -- LA Hokie 01/03/2017 2:17PM

I'm sure the tradition of Rose Parade and Rose Bowl are the issue. -- HOO86 01/03/2017 5:17PM

I think the bigger problem is the Sugar Bowl insisting that it -- reestuart 01/03/2017 5:48PM

The Sugar Bowl is 99% the issue... -- BUGGZY 01/06/2017 10:30AM

I actually disagree. I love the Rose Bowl. No game is ever guaranteed -- reestuart 01/02/2017 4:14PM

Had an interesting one this year. -- HOO86 01/02/2017 9:31PM

Yeah, that was a great game. I think a Big XII shootout is typically -- reestuart 01/03/2017 09:10AM

Why do you love the Rose Bowl? -- WestyHokie 01/02/2017 5:49PM

Of course ** -- reestuart 01/02/2017 9:52PM

VERY much so. I couldn't sit down and watch the games. Caught pieces though ** -- chuckd4vt 01/02/2017 2:29PM

Ratings for CFP Semis down. Is this a NYE thing?

Insert a Link

Tech Sideline is Presented By:

Our Sponsors