TEXAS’ stunning 41-38 defeat of USC in Wednesday’s Rose Bowl snared 35.6 million viewers – the biggest audience to watch a college- football championship game since 1991, when Nielsen began keeping electronic records.
Wednesday’s game, a thriller throughout, ended with a flourish when Texas quarterback Vince Young scored two touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the final four minutes.
The Texas victory ended USC’s 34-game winning streak – and provided vindication for Young, who finished second to USC’s Reggie Bush in the Heisman Trophy voting.
The game (8:17 p.m.-12:28 a.m.) out-rated last year’s championship game – USC’s Orange Bowl victory over Oklahoma – by 14.2 million viewers and by a whopping 73 percent among the coveted adults 18-49 demo.
ABC, in fact, generated its best adults 18-49 numbers on a Wednesday night in nearly seven years (since March 1999).
Wednesday’s Rose Bowl also represents ABC’s most-watched football telecast, excluding the Super Bowl, since at least 1991 – and helped ABC beat its combined prime-time competition by nearly 7 million viewers.
TOUCHDOWN
EVENT VIEWERS DATE
2005 Oscars 42.1 million 2/05
2006 Rose Bowl 35.6 million 1/06
“CSI” season finale 31 million 5/05
“Desperate Housewives” season finale 30 million 5/05
“American Idol 4” finale 29.4 million 5/05
Source: Nielsen Media Research