Mere days after drawing its third best NBA regular season rating ever, ESPN drew record setting numbers for the battle of #1 versus #2 in college basketball.
Tennessee’s upset victory over previously undefeated Memphis drew the most viewers for a college basketball game in ESPN history. 5.3 million viewers tuned into the game on Saturday night, easily topping the 3.1 million viewers who watched Duke/North Carolina two weeks ago, and the 3.6 million viewers who watched Shaq’s debut with the Phoenix Suns last Wednesday.
The 5.3 million viewers is only one million shy of the 6.3 million who watched the NBA All Star Game on TNT last Sunday.
The game drew a 3.2 national rating, higher than all but one game of the 2007 NLCS on TBS, and higher than all but two NBA Conference Finals games on ESPN and TNT last year.
The stunning number for Tennessee/Memphis caps off a week of remarkably strong ratings for basketball on ESPN. Shaquille O’Neal and the Phoenix Suns helped ESPN to two strong ratings on Wednesday and Friday.
Wednesday night, Lakers/Suns drew a 2.9 cable rating with 3.6 million viewers, the third best numbers for a regular season NBA game on the network. Friday night, Suns/Celtics drew a 2.1 overnight cable rating, up 75% from the game on the comparable night last year.
Despite the great numbers, the basketball could not compete with wrestling, politics, and Timmy Turner. Tennessee/Memphis finished only #8 for the week, despite the huge numbers. Lakers/Suns finished #26 in viewers, and #20 in household ratings. Nickelodeon took fourteen of the top 20 spots on cable, and led the week with a TV movie for the recently resurrected The Fairly Oddparents.
