Hyundai Sun Bowl’s TV ratings up over last year

The 81st Hyundai Sun Bowl was a competitive game that attracted more viewers this year compared to last year.

This year’s game, featuring Arizona State vs. Duke, earned a 2.6 overnight rating, according to Sports Media Watch.

A single national ratings point represents one percent of the total number of households with televisions in the United States. So 2.6 percent of the households in the US tuned into to watch the Sun Bowl. When you see the “share” number, that is the percentage of television sets actually in use tuned to a particular program.

Arizona State beat Duke 36-31 in front of a crowd of about 48,000.

Last year’s UCLA vs. Virginia Tech game earned a 2.3 rating and that game was down 15 percent from the previous year, according to an Alabama Media Group article from early 2014.

The Sun Bowl is the only bowl game not broadcast by ESPN or ABC.

CBS has broadcast the Sun Bowl for 47 years.