Season analysis: How did Boise State’s TV viewership numbers stack up against G5 teams?
Note: This is the fourth installment in a five-part series wrapping up Boise State’s 2022 season. The Idaho Statesman next will break down the Broncos’ home attendance numbers.
The Boise State football team averaged 797,366 viewers in nine publicly rated games that aired on FS1, ESPN, CBS and Fox last season, including the Mountain West championship game and Frisco Bowl.
The size of the Broncos’ TV audiences trailed only Air Force in the Mountain West this season. The Falcons averaged 983,833 viewers in six publicly rated games, including contests against Colorado, Army and Navy that aired on CBS and their 30-15 win over Baylor in the Armed Forces Bowl, which drew 1.99 million viewers on ESPN.
Fox replaced ESPN as the owner of media rights to Boise State’s home games in 2020 as part of the Mountain West’s most recent TV contract. The Broncos’ road games on CBS Sports Network are not publicly rated, and viewership numbers are not available for some games that air on FS2 or most streaming services.
Boise State averaged more than 497,000 viewers in six home games this season, four of which aired on FS1, including a tilt against San Diego State that attracted 407,000 viewers, according to sportsmediawatch.com. All six of the Broncos’ games at Albertsons Stadium aired on FS1 in 2021, averaging 341,333 viewers.
The Broncos’ most-viewed home game in the 2022 regular season was against defending Mountain West champion Utah State on Nov. 25. Boise State’s 42-23 win on CBS on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving attracted 1.44 million viewers.
The season opener at Oregon State attracted 1.25 million viewers on ESPN, and the teams’ rivalry game against BYU was watched by 281,000 viewers on FS2.
Boise State’s most-viewed game of the season was its loss to Fresno State in the Mountain West championship game, which drew 1.94 million viewers on Fox.
That was up from last season’s title game between Utah State and San Diego State, which attracted 816,000 viewers, but the size of the audience for the Mountain West’s biggest game of the year still lagged behind its biggest competitor in the Group of Five leagues. The American Athletic Conference championship game between Tulane and UCF drew 2.7 million viewers on ABC.
Group of Five conferences still have a lot of ground to make up when compared to the Power Five, whose conference title games are way more watched.
The SEC championship game between Georgia and LSU attracted 10.89 million viewers. The Big Ten title game between Michigan and Purdue attracted the second-largest audience (10.7M), followed by the Big 12 (9.41M), the Pac-12 (5.97M) and the ACC (3.47M).
The size of the audience that tuned in to watch Boise State beat North Texas in the Frisco Bowl on ESPN also lagged behind several postseason games that involved G5 teams. The Broncos’ bowl game in Frisco, Texas, drew 1.03 million viewers, less than the 1.1 million who tuned in to watch Eastern Michigan and San Jose State in the Potato Bowl.
Memphis and Utah State met in the First Responder Bowl, which was watched by 2.2 million viewers. The LA Bowl between Fresno State and Washington State attracted 2.4 million. The Hawaii Bowl between San Diego State and Middle Tennessee attracted 1.2 million viewers, and 2.62 million tuned in to watch Coastal Carolina and East Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl.
Here is a look at TV audience numbers for Boise State’s games from the past four seasons. (The rating numbers are the percentage of potential audience members tuned into a particular program or station at a given time.)
2022
Sept. 3: at Oregon State, ESPN, .7 rating, 1.25M
Sept. 9: at New Mexico*
Sept. 17: vs UT Martin, FS1, .10, 214,000
Sept. 23: at UTEP*
Sept. 30: vs San Diego State, FS1, .22, 407,000
Oct. 8: vs Fresno State, FS1, .19, 375,000
Oct. 22: at Air Force*
Oct. 29: vs. Colorado State, FS1, .13, 269,000
Nov. 5: vs BYU, FS2, .12, 281,000
Nov. 12: at Nevada*
Nov. 19: at Wyoming*
Nov. 25: vs Utah State, CBS, .85, 1.44M
Mountain West championship: vs. Fresno State, Fox, 1.0, 1.94M
Frisco Bowl: vs. North Texas, ESPN, .58, 1.03M
(* Boise State’s road games that air on CBS Sports Network are not publicly rated)
2021
Sept. 2: at UCF, ESPN, .5 rating, 841K viewers
Sept. 10: vs. UTEP, FS1, .2, 347K
Sept. 18: vs. Oklahoma State, FS1, .35, 596K
Sept. 25: at Utah State, CBS, .54, 804K
Oct. 2: vs. Nevada, FS1, n/a, 197K
Oct. 9: at BYU, ABC, 1.3, 2.24M
Oct. 16: vs. Air Force, FS1, .14, 289K
Oct. 30: at Colorado State*
Nov. 6: at Fresno State*
Nov. 12: vs. Wyoming, FS1, .27, 454K
Nov. 20: vs. New Mexico, FS1, NA, 165K
Nov. 26: at San Diego State, CBS, 1.15, 1.95M
Mountain West championship: Utah State vs. San Diego State, Fox, .5, 816K
2020
Oct. 24: vs. Utah State, FS1, .23 rating, 549K viewers
Oct. 31: at Air Force*
Nov. 6: vs. BYU, FS1, .37, 680K
Nov. 12: vs. Colorado State, FS1, .15, 292K
Nov. 21: at Hawaii*
Dec. 12: at Wyoming*
Mountain West championship: vs. San Jose State, Fox, .9, 1.42M
2019
Aug. 31: at Florida State, ESPN News, NA rating, 1.19M viewers
Sept. 6: vs. Marshall, ESPN2, .9, 1.38M
Sept. 14: vs. Portland State, ESPN2, .23, 391K
Sept. 20: vs. Air Force, ESPN2, .6, 895K
Oct. 5: at UNLV*
Oct. 12: vs. Hawaii, ESPN2, .34, 555K
Oct. 19: at BYU, ESPN2, .35, 571K
Nov. 2: at San Jose State*
Nov. 9: vs. Wyoming, ESPN, .7, 1.18M
Nov. 16: vs. New Mexico, ESPN2, n/a, 224K
Nov. 23: at Utah State*
Nov. 29: at Colorado State*
Mountain West title game: vs. Hawaii, ESPN, .37, 550K
Las Vegas Bowl: vs. Washington, ABC, 1.6, 2.64M
This story was originally published January 5, 2023 at 4:00 AM.
