One of the better college basketball games in recent years did well for ESPN.
Monday’s Oklahoma/Kansas college basketball game, a matchup of the #1 and #2 teams in the country, had a 1.7 final rating and 2.7 million viewers on ESPN — up 143% in ratings and 202% in viewership from Oklahoma/Texas last year (0.7, 911K). There was no comparable window in 2014 due to the BCS title game.
The Jayhawks’ triple-overtime win scored the second-largest audience of the season on ESPN, trailing only Kentucky/Duke in the Champions Classic (3.1M).
With that said, it could not match the last #1 vs. #2 matchup during the regular season, Michigan State/Kentucky in the 2013 Champions Classic (2.6, 4.0M). Nor could it match the previous such matchup, Tennessee/Memphis in February 2008 (3.2, 5.3M).
Kansas City was the top market for Monday’s game with a 16.8 rating, followed by Oklahoma City (10.7), Tulsa (8.6), Louisville (5.6) and Raleigh-Durham (4.4).
In other action, Tuesday’s Kentucky/LSU game drew a 1.3 and 2.0 million viewers — up 86% in ratings and 101% in viewership from Ohio State/Minnesota last year (0.7, 1.0M) but down 13% in both measures from Ohio State/Michigan State in 2014 (1.5, 2.3M). The Tigers’ upset win, which if not for foul trouble would have been a national showcase for LSU F Ben Simmons, trails only Oklahoma/Kansas and Kentucky/Duke as ESPN’s top game of the season thus far.
Wisconsin/Indiana had a 0.8 and 1.3 million earlier in the night, up 60% in ratings and 101% in viewership from Arkansas/Georgia last year (0.5, 631K) and up 60% and 86%, respectively, from Tennessee/LSU in 2013 (0.5, 680K). Monday’s early game, North Carolina/Florida State, had a 0.9 and 1.3 million — down 18% and 15%, respectively, from Notre Dame/North Carolina last year (1.1, 1.6M).
(Mon./Tue. numbers via Programming Insider [1], [2], ESPN Media Zone)
