ESPN suffered double-digit declines for three of its four college basketball games last Saturday, and comparisons for the fourth game were not immediately available.
Last Saturday’s Kansas State/Kansas Saturday Primetime game drew a 0.8 U.S. rating and 1.284 million viewers on ESPN, down 58% in ratings and 56% in viewership from the same matchup in the same timeslot last year (KST/KU: 1.9, 2.937M).
Kansas’ blowout victory was the lowest rated and least viewed of the four college basketball games on ESPN that day.
Earlier, Georgia/Kentucky drew a 0.9 and 1.435 million on the network, down 44% and 47%, respectively, from last year’s matchup (VANDY/UK: 1.6, 2.692 mil), and Georgetown/Villanova earned a 0.9 and 1.359 million, down 31% and 27%, respectively, from last year (LOU/WVU: 1.3, 1.867 mil).
The top game of the day on either ESPN or ESPN2 was N.C. State/North Carolina, which drew a 1.1 and 1.735 million viewers. Ratings and viewership for last year’s comparable game were not available.
Wrapping up last weekend’s action, ESPN2 drew a 0.8 and 1.200 million for Ohio State/Northwestern, a 0.5 and 783,000 for Pittsburgh/Rutgers, a 0.1 and 183,000 for Xavier/Richmond, and a 0.1 and 145,000 for Bradley/Wichita State. On the women’s side, ESPN2 drew a 0.2 and 350,000 for Sunday’s Georgia/LSU game.
