Despite airing the four most-watched games of the season, ESPN’s college basketball viewership is down slightly from last year. In other news, FOX finally managed to reach 500,000 viewers for a Big East game, and TNT drew cable’s largest non-Cavaliers NBA audience since Christmas Day.
College Hoops Viewership Down Slightly on ESPN
- ESPN has averaged 1.4 million viewers for college basketball games this season (115 telecasts), down 6% from the comparable period last year (1.447M to 1.355M). Over on ESPN2, 195 telecasts have averaged 431,000 viewers — up 3% from last year (419K). ESPN and ESPN2 have combined to air the four most-watched games of the season thus far. (ESPN)
Big East Finally Tops 500K Viewers on FOX
- Last Saturday’s Villanova/Xavier college basketball game drew a 0.4 final rating and 566,000 viewers on FOX, the first Big East telecast on the network to top 500,000 viewers since St. John’s loss to Duke in January (1.4, 2.2M). The game was the least-watched live sporting event on the ‘Big Four’ broadcast networks last weekend. (via Sports Business Daily)
Thunder/Bulls Top Non-Cavs Game on Cable Since Christmas
- Thursday’s Thunder/Bulls NBA regular season game drew 2.1 million viewers on TNT, down 22% from Heat/Spurs last year (2.6M) and down 25% from Thunder/Knicks in 2013 (2.7M), but the most-watched non-Cavaliers game on cable since Christmas Day. The Mavericks/Blazers nightcap drew 1.5 million (-11%). On Wednesday night, ESPN drew 1.1 million for Lakers/Heat and 1.3 million for Blazers/Clippers — up 13% and 49%, respectively, from last year’s Mavericks/Nuggets (996K) and Hawks/Blazers (890K) games. (via TV By the Numbers [1], [2])
