Significant Audience Growth from 2014 Orange Bowl; Second-Most Watched non-Semifinal New Year’s Six Game

New ESPN Orange Bowl Audience Record

Second Most-Watched Game of 2016 College Football Season on Any Network

The Capital One Orange Bowl between Florida State and Michigan (December 30 at 8 p.m. ET) delivered a total live audience (TV + streaming) of 11,704,000 viewers, up 30% from the 2014 Capital One Orange Bowl (Mississippi State vs. Georgia Tech).*

The total live audience makes the Seminoles’ 33-32 victory the second-most watched non-Semifinal New Year’s Six game since the inception of the College Football Playoff (nine games). ESPN’s TV audience (11,461,000 viewers) alone would make it the second-most-watched non-Semifinal New Year’s Six game, while the streaming average minute audience (243,000 viewers) set a new record for non-Semifinal New Year’s Six games as announced this morning.

Additional Orange Bowl Highlights:

New ESPN Record Audience: The total live audience makes this ESPN’s most-watched Orange Bowl, not counting the College Football Playoff Semifinal (2015) or National Championship game (2013).

The total live audience makes this ESPN’s most-watched Orange Bowl, not counting the College Football Playoff Semifinal (2015) or National Championship game (2013). A Top Game of 2016 on Any Network: The Seminoles’ victory was the second most-watched college football game this season on any network, trailing only another Wolverines game — the Michigan-Ohio State overtime thriller on ABC (November 26, 2016).

Additional superlatives were announced this morning

*2015 Orange Bowl was a College Football Playoff Semifinal; 2014 Orange Bowl was part of the New Year’s Six

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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; [email protected] and @DerekVolner