How UGA’s loss, other bowl games measured up in Atlanta TV ratings

Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm is sacked by Texas defensive lineman Chris Nelson during the second half of the Sugar Bowl on Tuesday night in New Orleans.

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm is sacked by Texas defensive lineman Chris Nelson during the second half of the Sugar Bowl on Tuesday night in New Orleans.

Georgia’s loss to Texas in the Sugar Bowl drew a 20.6 rating in the Atlanta TV market, making it the most watched bowl game among local viewers this season.

An average of almost 500,000 households in the Atlanta market watched the game Tuesday night across ESPN and ESPN2.

The next most-watched bowl games here were the College Football Playoff semifinals in the Orange and Cotton bowls Saturday.

Alabama’s victory over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl drew a 17.4 Nielsen rating in the Atlanta market, while Clemson’s win over Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl generated a 15.9 rating here.

The rating is the percentage of TV households that watched each game on average.

Among the rest of the top bowl games, collectively dubbed the “New Year’s Six” games: Ohio State’s win over Washington in the Rose Bowl posted a 12.5 rating in the Atlanta market; LSU’s win over Central Florida in the Fiesta Bowl drew a 9.4 rating in Atlanta; and Florida’s victory over Michigan in the Peach Bowl drew a 7.8 rating here.

The Atlanta rating for the Sugar Bowl was considerably below that for Georgia’s loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship game, which earned a 33.9 rating here.

The Sugar Bowl posted a higher rating in two other markets than in Atlanta: 25.4 in Austin, Texas, and 22.1 in Birmingham, Ala. Nationally, the Georgia-Texas game averaged a 7.8 rating across the 56 metered markets.

In other sports-on-TV news, the final Falcons game of the season, Sunday’s win at Tampa Bay, posted a 12.6 rating in the Atlanta market. Georgia Tech’s loss to Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl on Dec. 26 drew a 4.7 rating in Atlanta.

All of the “New Year’s Six” bowl games were on ESPN, which also will televise the national championship game between Alabama and Clemson from Santa Clara, Calif., on Monday.