John Ourand
@Ourand_SBJ
· 14m
CFP Semis
16.1 million for Bama-Cincinnati
16.5 million for Georgia-Michigan
Last year
18.9 million for Bama-Notre Dame
19.1 million for Ohio St.-Clemson
so blowout games and New Years eve....
looking back-
2 years ago
17.2 million for LSU-Oklahoma
21.2 million for Ohio St-Clemson
This is pure speculation but my guess is the playoff ratings will continue to decline as college football becomes a more regional sport. It’s anecdotal but I had a couple friends say they weren’t watching the semis because “what’s the point, the sec teams are going to win anyway.”
(01-04-2022 11:16 AM)stever20 Wrote: [ -> ]so blowout games and New Years eve....
looking back-
2 years ago
17.2 million for LSU-Oklahoma
21.2 million for Ohio St-Clemson
Those games were Sat 12/29
I can't understand why they put them on New Year's Eve. That has never been a great time. Were they limited by the Sugar and Rose Bowl claims on NY Day?
It seems like lack of Ohio State or Notre Dame eyeballs was the problem this year.
More than anything else.
(01-04-2022 11:19 AM)bullet Wrote: [ -> ]I can't understand why they put them on New Year's Eve. That has never been a great time. Were they limited by the Sugar and Rose Bowl claims on NY Day?
yes exactly.
There are a decent number of people in this country that work on NYE, especially for the 3:30 EST kickoff.
(01-04-2022 11:09 AM)CliftonAve Wrote: [ -> ]John Ourand
@Ourand_SBJ
· 14m
CFP Semis
16.1 million for Bama-Cincinnati
16.5 million for Georgia-Michigan
Last year
18.9 million for Bama-Notre Dame
19.1 million for Ohio St.-Clemson
So "new blood" did not result in better ratings.
Though I suspect New Year's Eve had an impact. Lots of people with plans that day.
To borrow from my fellow UC fan BeatcatMark, NYE ratings suck for the “big boys” too
quote='Cat-Man' pid='17987518' dateline='1641312750']
You might be right about the day the game was played. But NYE festivities shouldn't have impacted a 3:30pm game. However, a lot of people still work on NYE day as opposed to NY day.
IMO, the biggest reason for the difference are the schools. OSU and ND. Two of the biggest fan base/most watched teams in the country. That's why the CFP committee heavily leans in their favor in the rankings.
[/quote]
Just for comparison.
the 2015 Orange Bowl was a NYE Semifinal between Clemson and Oklahoma. It kicked off at 4:00. It drew 15.7 million viewers.
2016 Peach Bowl was a 3pm kickoff between Bama and Washington it drew 19.34 million. (the year after the NYD kickoff drew 21.5 million).
2018 Cotton Bowl was Clemson Notre dame drew 16.8 million viewers.
2019 Peach Bowl LSU Oklahoma drew 17.2 million viewers (Back on New Years day the next year those ratings were back up around 19 million).
[/quote]
(01-04-2022 11:21 AM)Kit-Cat Wrote: [ -> ]It seems like lack of Ohio State or Notre Dame eyeballs was the problem this year.
More than anything else.
It’s not the ND effect. The 2018 ND v Clemson semifinal had only 16.8M viewers…that was the last time when the semis were not on New Years Day. They are sacrificing ratings…either to pump-up the payouts of the SEC & B1G (via the contract bowl setups) or the “own” sports viewership on New Years Eve.
Well this was the year the Playoff was screwed since NYD was a Saturday and the previous Saturday was Christmas. They probably should have switched to let the Rose/Sugar have the semifinals this year and let the Cotton/Orange have the semifinals last year when Jan. 2 was a Saturday (the "Rose" Bowl was in Dallas anyway). Next year the semifinals will be on Dec. 31 again... but Dec. 31 will be Saturday (the Rose and Sugar will be on Jan. 2).
(01-04-2022 11:19 AM)bullet Wrote: [ -> ]I can't understand why they put them on New Year's Eve. That has never been a great time. Were they limited by the Sugar and Rose Bowl claims on NY Day?
Rose Bowl definitely. They own their timeslot, it's in the contracts. They're more militant about the timeslot than they are about the PAC-B1G tie ins.
More evidence as to why if/when the CFP expands, the TV networks are likely going to insist upon a tripleheader of playoff games on NYD. Having games on NYE is an instant devaluation. NYE is the biggest "going out of the house to a party" evening out of all of them, while NYD is a "sit on the couch at home" day. The latter is when TV ratings are maximized.
(01-04-2022 11:26 AM)CliftonAve Wrote: [ -> ]There are a decent number of people in this country that work on NYE, especially for the 3:30 EST kickoff.
And if a PAC-12 team was in the Cotton Bowl it would have been bloody A 12:30 Pac kickoff would be a killer.
(01-04-2022 02:39 PM)whittx Wrote: [ -> ] (01-04-2022 11:26 AM)CliftonAve Wrote: [ -> ]There are a decent number of people in this country that work on NYE, especially for the 3:30 EST kickoff.
And if a PAC-12 team was in the Cotton Bowl it would have been bloody A 12:30 Pac kickoff would be a killer.
Did you see all the high viewership noon ET games this season? People will watch.
Jan 10th game will have even lower ratings than ever before
It's a colossal failure, but death by a thousand cuts in actuality. We are getting to the point where it's the equivalent of MLB:
Bama: Yankees
Ohio State: Cubs
Michigan: White Sox
Clemson: Mets
UGa: Red Sox
OU: LAA
UT: LAD
REGIONAL sport... no longer national. Just a few select "big market" college football towns in the SouthEast and some outliers across the country.
(01-04-2022 02:40 PM)schmolik Wrote: [ -> ] (01-04-2022 02:39 PM)whittx Wrote: [ -> ] (01-04-2022 11:26 AM)CliftonAve Wrote: [ -> ]There are a decent number of people in this country that work on NYE, especially for the 3:30 EST kickoff.
And if a PAC-12 team was in the Cotton Bowl it would have been bloody A 12:30 Pac kickoff would be a killer.
Did you see all the high viewership noon ET games this season? People will watch.
not on a working weekday though.
And like I've said, will be interesting to see next year when ESPN isn't so dumb and doesn't give Fox the top OOC game for instance- Notre Dame @ Ohio St. That'll be in prime time almost guaranteed.
(01-04-2022 03:12 PM)RUScarlets Wrote: [ -> ]It's a colossal failure, but death by a thousand cuts in actuality. We are getting to the point where it's the equivalent of MLB:
Bama: Yankees
Ohio State: Cubs
Michigan: White Sox
Clemson: Mets
UGa: Red Sox
OU: LAA
UT: LAD
REGIONAL sport... no longer national. Just a few select "big market" college football towns in the SouthEast and some outliers across the country.
IMO, college football is historically a regional sport, and it was surely a whole lot more regional when I first began watching it in the 1970s.
CFB became more national over time, beginning with the liberation of the NCAA's stranglehold on TV in the mid-1980s, and then with the proliferation of cable and now streaming.
To take Rutgers for example, now, every game Rutgers plays that isn't on the BTN is readily available to the whole country. In the 1970s, probably only a few counties around central New Jersey had access to Rutgers football games on TV.