A rare January non-conference matchup scored big numbers on ESPN, but not as big as last year.
Saturday’s Kentucky/Kansas college basketball game, part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge, drew a 1.8 final rating and 3.0 million viewers on ESPN — down 14% in ratings and 15% in viewership from Duke/Virginia last year (2.1, 3.5M) and down 38% and 37%, respectively, from Duke/Syracuse in 2014 (2.9, 4.8M). Those games aired the night before the Super Bowl, typically reserved for particularly high-profile matchups.
Despite the declines, the Jayhawks’ overtime win ranks as the most-watched game in the three-year history of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The previous high was 2.2 million for Texas/Kentucky last season. It also ranks as the second-most watched game of the season on ESPN, behind Kentucky/Duke in the Champions Classic (3.1M).
Head-to-head, Saturday’s game ranked behind Spurs/Cavaliers on ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime (2.1, 3.3M) but topped the UFC on FOX (1.6, 2.7M). It also trailed both in adults 18-49.
Louisville was the top market with a 19.9 rating, with Kansas City a distant second at 10.1. Knoxville (6.8), Cincinnati (6.1) and Nashville (4.9) rounded out the top five.
Oklahoma/LSU had 1.7 million earlier in the day, down 34% from North Carolina/Louisville last year (2.6M) and down 10% from Kansas/Texas in ’14 (1.9M). Iowa State/Texas A&M had 1.0 million, down 14% from Kansas State/Kansas last year (1.2M) but up 16% from Baylor/Oklahoma State in ’14 (900K). No other games in the challenge topped one million viewers.
The full Big 12/SEC Challenge averaged 846,000 viewers across the ESPN family of networks, up 46% from last year (579K) and up 61% from two years ago (525K).
(Sat. numbers from ESPN Media Zone, with additional info via Programming Insider/Sports TV Ratings)
