Did you watch Alabama beat LSU 21-0 to win the BCS Championship last night? If not, you weren't alone in finding your television entertainment elsewhere.

The overnight ratings for the BCS National Championship Game show that last night's rematch between Alabama and LSU was the lowest-rated title game in the 14-year history of the BCS, bringing in a 13.8 overnight rating, a 14% drop from last year's game between Auburn and Oregon. The previous low had been set in 2002 when Miami played Nebraska for the title and the game brought a 14.3 rating.

There are a few factors that were no doubt in play here. First of all, it seems many college football fans were serious when they said they didn't want to watch a rematch of a game they'd already seen, particularly one that ended 9-6 the first time and didn't exactly provide a lot of excitement. Another factor to consider is that the game was broadcast on ESPN, which is available on cable packages and previous BCS games had always been broadcast on national networks.

The low ratings for the title game followed the trend of the other four BCS bowls as well, as the average rating of all BCS games dropped 10% from the 2010 season and 21% from the 2009 season. Again, this is likely a combination of the games now being broadcast on cable and college football fans who are tiring of the bowl system.

The good news is that with all the momentum that already seems to be in place for the BCS to add a plus-one system in the coming years, the drop in ratings may provide an additional kick in the pants.

I wanna play to



BCS National Championship: Cable’s Second Biggest Audience of All Time


ESPN Wins the Night; Record College Football Audience for ESPN’s Digital Platforms

ESPN’s telecast of the Allstate Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship – Alabama’s 21-0 shutout of LSU -- posted a 16.2 fast national household coverage rating, according to Nielsen, representing an average of 16,072,000 households, the second highest of any program in the history in cable television (records go back to 1987). The average of 24,214,000 viewers (P2+) was also second best in cable. It also is ESPN’s second-highest rating of all time.

The only telecast in cable television history with a larger audience was last year’s BCS Championship on ESPN (17,718,000 homes and 27,316,000 people, based on a 17.8 rating), a 22-19 Auburn victory over Oregon decided by a field goal as time expired.

The game was the most-viewed telecast of the night in all of television, broadcast or cable, and powered ESPN to win the night among all networks.

The programming leading into and following the game performed well. BCS Showcase (8:15-30 p.m. ET) earned a 7.7 metered market rating while BCS Post-Game (11:30 p.m. – midnight) drew a 7.9.

The game earned notable local ratings in a variety of markets:

■Birmingham averaged a 61.2 rating, best of all metered markets, the second highest-rated bowl game on the ESPN networks in this market, behind only the 2011 National Championship (67.0; Auburn/Oregon)
■New Orleans averaged a 53.3 overnight rating, second best in the nation and the highest-rated bowl game ever on the ESPN networks in this market
■In addition, Austin (20.5), Greensboro (17.3), Greenville (24.5), Houston (16.2), Jacksonville (23.0), Memphis (25.8), Orlando (16.6), and Providence (9.6) delivered their highest-rating for a bowl game on the ESPN networks in the 2012 BCS National Championship.■Records date back to 2000
Record College Football Audience on ESPN’s Digital Platforms

Across all WatchESPN platforms – computer, smartphone, tablet, Xbox – the average minute audience for the BCS National Championship game totaled 261,000 people, up 40 percent over last year’s game, and a record for college football on ESPN’s digital platforms. More than 523,000 people watched the game on WatchESPN.com, generating 39.6 million minutes and an average minute audience of 227,000 people, which is up 20 percent compared to last year.

For the five BCS Bowl Games on WatchESPN.com, the average minute audience was 114,000 (up 27 percent over last year). For the entire bowl season, fans spent 6.9 million minutes per game on WatchESPN.com for an average time spent of 59 minutes per game, up 31 percent and 28 percent vs. 2011, respectively. ESPN’s college football content on the mobile web reached 872,000 fans and more than three million page views during the bowl season, up 15 percent and 11 percent respectively, compared to a year ago.

ESPN & the BCS

ESPN's second year of exclusive coverage of the five BCS matchups included all five games on ESPN, ESPN Radio and ESPN3 with ESPN Deportes and ESPN 3D also televising the Allstate BCS National Championship Game.

In addition, ESPN provided extensive on-site studio programming and reports across multiple shows and platforms, dedicated web pages for each bowl, re-airs of classic BCS games, international telecasts of all five games, encore presentations of the National Championship and more. ESPN's year-round commitment to college football includes more than 400 games, culminating with 33 bowls.

"The only telecast in cable television history with a larger audience was last year’s BCS Championship on ESPN (17,718,000 homes and 27,316,000 people, based on a 17.8 rating), a 22-19 Auburn victory over Oregon decided by a field goal as time expired.

The game was the most-viewed telecast of the night in all of television, broadcast or cable, and powered ESPN to win the night among all networks. "

I don't care. I watched it. I liked it. Two thumbs up.

21-0. Just as good as the 42-14 ass whipping I saw earlier in the season.

Restoring order...

2011 NATIONAL CHAMPS..ROLL TIDE!!
"Its not a passion,its shuters obsession"

Butthurt

Time for another cartoon

I'll just tell you what I told all those coonasses in New Orleans with their stupid ass comments after the game....

Stings, don't it?

Get used to it, cause the hurt is going to last as long as Saban is around. And by the time he leaves, he will have built such a powerful program that attracting the best coach in America at that time should be very attainable.

RTR!!! 2011 National Champions!! #14 Baby!

Shutter, your post is sorta like the folks that say Auburn was by far the worst team to win a NC in years. Who cares! LOL

Auburn won 2010 and Alabama won 2009 and 2011!

I wish I had those 3 hours of my life back.

I just bet you did, tough guy. You'd be coming back in a hearse.

Its because the two teams were from the same market or area of the US - not because of who they were.

I can guaruntee you that what he said was super mild compared to what those "coonasses" were saying after the Nov.5 game. I was there and it was unreal.
What's wrong with his comment?

bill has been beating up on BP so he's feeling froggy.

Tider, nothing he said would cause too much of a problem with sane people. I think we can all agree those Cajuns aren't sane or rational. He pops off and the whole mob would be on him.

I will agree with ya there Bill. Those people would have taken on a mob mentality with the snap of a finger.

Oh you didn't watch it? Alabama won if you didn't know. Yep by a pretty good land slide. Bet you are pretty excited that our state won it again. I hope either Bama or Auburn can do it again next year.
You missed a good "rerun" Andy Griffith didn't have nothing on it.

I said it at least 100 times in response to those idiots and I'm still alive. Imagine that, Bill is WRONG AGAIN!!!

And Bill, it's all good. I know you're just pissed because it stings your ass too!!

#14 Baby! Damn, I love typing that.

Nope, no sting here droptine. I'm happy for my friends . My team won it all last year including going undefeated and winning the conference championship.