Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual and Allstate Sugar Bowl Deliver Record New Year's Day

· Rose Bowl Game Earns 9.7 Overnight and Sugar Bowl 7.8, Both Resulting in New Year's Six Records

· New Year's Six Averaged 8.0 Overnight, System's Best for Non-New Year's Day Semifinals Years

· Columbus Delivers Best Local Market Rating for Non-CFP Semifinal Rose Bowl Since 2010

The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual featuring Washington vs. Ohio State (5 p.m.) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl between Texas and Georgia (8:45 p.m.) delivered New Year's Six record ratings, with both bowls achieving their highest non-CFP Semifinal rating in the College Football Playoff five-year history. The significant New Year's Day ratings, combined with the strong College Football Playoff Semifinals and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl ratings on December 29, resulted in a new high-water mark for the New Year's Six among years with similar calendar structure.

Rose Bowl Delivers New Non-CFP Semifinal New Year's Six Record

The Rose Bowl Game delivered a 9.7 overnight (ESPN and ESPN2) up 3% from the 2017 Rose Bowl Game (1/1/2017) and up 23% from the 2016 edition (1/1/16). The overnight for the Buckeyes' victory becomes the highest-rated non-Semifinal New Year's Six game, overtaking the previously mentioned 2017 Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl peaked at 10.9 overnight late in the fourth quarter as Washington made a valiant comeback attempt (8:30-8:45 p.m.).

Sugar Bowl Up Significantly Year-Over-Year

The Sugar Bowl earned a 7.8 overnight (ESPN and ESPN2), up 28% from the 2017 Sugar Bowl (1/1/2017) and 47% increase from the 2016 game (1/1/16).

Fiesta Bowl Begins New Year's Day with Window's Best Overnight

The PlayStation Fiesta Bowl featuring LSU vs. UCF delivered a 5.0 overnight, up 9% from the 2015 Fiesta Bowl, the only other time in the New Year's Six era which the game hosted the automatic qualifier from the Group of Five. The overnight for the Tigers' victory was also the highest rated among the New Year's Day early window games this season.

New Year's Six Delivers Multiple Records

This season's New Year's Six delivered an 8.0 overnight average, the highest-rated New Year's Six for years the CFP Semifinals are not played on New Year's Day. This season's New Year's Six non-Semifinal games earned a 7.0 overnight, the best ever in the five years of the system.

Home Markets of Winning Teams Draw Best Local Ratings; Columbus Delivers Best Rating for Non-CFP Semifinal Rose Bowl in Nearly a Decade

The home market for the winning teams in the Rose Bowl Game, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl were also the highest-rated markets, with Columbus, Ohio, delivering the best of the day at a 42.7. The significant rating for Columbus, Ohio, was the best individual market for the Rose Bowl since 2010, except the two seasons in which the game was a CFP Semifinal. The top 10 local markets for each of the three games:

· Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual
Rank Market Rating
1 Columbus, Ohio 42.7
2 Dayton 30.3
3 Cleveland 29.9
4 Seattle-Tacoma 22.8
5 Birmingham 21.5
6 New Orleans 17.4
7 Cincinnati 16.5
8 Nashville 13.7
9 Austin 13.3
10 Greenville 13.0

· Allstate Sugar Bowl
Rank Market Rating
1 Austin 25.4
2 Birmingham 22.1
3 Atlanta 20.6
4 Columbus, Ohio 18.2
5 New Orleans 18.0
6 Greenville 14.8
7 Nashville 14.4
8 Dayton 13.6
9 Tulsa 13.6
10 Dallas-Ft. Worth 13.4

· PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
Rank Market Rating
1 New Orleans 25.1
2 Birmingham 21.2
3 Orlando 14.0
4 Greenville 11.1
5 Columbus, Ohio 10.3
6 Tampa-St. Pete 9.5
7 Atlanta 9.4
8 Jacksonville 9.1
9 Austin 8.9
10 Knoxville 8.3

Birmingham Leads Local Markets among All New Year's Six Games

Birmingham was the highest-rated market for the entire New Year's Six, delivering a 27.3 average across the six games. The complete Top 10:

Rank Market Rating
1 Birmingham 27.3
2 Columbus, Ohio 20.6
3 New Orleans 18.4
4 Dayton 15.7
5 Greenville 15.4
6 Tulsa 15.3
7 Oklahoma City 14.2
8 Cleveland 14.1
9 Nashville 13.9
10 Atlanta 13.6

New Year's Six Consists of Allstate Sugar Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual.

ESPN Begins 2019 with Record-Setting Viewership for The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual and Allstate Sugar Bowl

· The Rose Bowl Game Delivers More than 16.7 Million Viewers and Sugar Bowl More than 13.2 Million Viewers, Both Resulting in New Year's Six Records

· New Year's Six Averages More than 13.6 Million Viewers, Set to Be the System's Best for Non-New Year's Day Semifinals Years

Happy New Year! ESPN began 2019 with record-setting audiences, as The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual featuring Washington vs. Ohio State (5 p.m.) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl between Texas and Georgia (8:45 p.m.) achieved their highest non-CFP Semifinal viewership in the College Football Playoff's five-year history. On the heels of the New Year's Day audiences, and combined with the College Football Playoff Semifinals and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on December 29, this season's New Year's Six is expected to be the most watched among the years with a similar calendar structure.

The Rose Bowl Game is Most-Watched Non-CFP Semifinal New Year's Six Game

The Rose Bowl Game delivered a Nielsen reported audience of 16,781,000 viewers, up 7% from the 2017 Rose Bowl Game (1/1/2017) and up 24% from the 2016 edition (1/1/16) - both years of the New Year's Six era the game was not a CFP Semifinal. Overall, the more than 16.7 million fans who watched the Buckeyes' victory is the largest non-Semifinal New Year's Six game, overtaking the previously mentioned 2017 Rose Bowl.

Sugar Bowl Up 40% from 2017 Game

The Sugar Bowl earned a Nielsen reported audience of 13,298,000 viewers, up 40% from the 2017 Sugar Bowl (1/1/2017) and a 49% increase from the 2016 game (1/1/16) - also the two years of the New Year's Six era the game was not a CFP Semifinal.

Fiesta Bowl Begins Day with More than 8,471,000 Viewers

The PlayStation Fiesta Bowl featuring LSU vs. UCF (1 p.m.) earned 8,471,000 viewers, up 14% from the 2014 Fiesta Bowl (12/31/14), the only other time in the New Year's Six era which the game hosted the automatic qualifier from the Group of Five. The viewership for the Tigers' win was flat with last season's Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, which was played in the similar New Year's Day timeslot.

New Year's Six Continues to Raise the Bar

This season's New Year's Six will be the most-watched among the years the CFP Semifinals were not played on New Year's Day, once final Nielsen numbers are reported. Currently, the six games average 13.6 million viewers (ESPN and ESPN2), which is already up 15% from the second year of the CFP (2015-16) and flat with year three (2016-17).

Columbus With Best Rose Bowl Game Local Market Rating in Nearly a Decade; Birmingham Draws Big Numbers Throughout New Year's Six

The home market for the winning teams in the Rose Bowl Game, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl were also the highest-rated markets, with Columbus, Ohio, delivering the best of the day at a 42.7. The significant rating for Columbus was the best individual market for the Rose Bowl since 2010, except the two seasons in which the game was a CFP Semifinal. Birmingham was the best local market for the entire New Year's Six. Full details were announced this morning.