A top ten battle was not enough to boost ESPN’s college basketball viewership on Saturday. In other news, the Warriors moved the needle again for NBA TV, and NFL Combine viewership sank on NFL Network.
UNC/UVA Down Double-Digits on ESPN
- North Carolina/Virginia college basketball had a 1.3 final rating and 1.9 million viewers on ESPN Saturday, down a tick in ratings and 18% in viewership from Syracuse/Duke last year (1.4, 2.3M) but up 18% and 14%, respectively, from Kentucky/South Carolina in 2014 (1.1, 1.6M). Later, Florida/LSU drew 801,000 viewers (-41%). In other action, Monday’s Syracuse/UNC (1.5M, +6%) and Kansas/Texas (1.2M, +3%) doubleheader increased slightly, while Tuesday’s Indiana/Iowa (1.3M, -50%) and Kentucky/Florida (1.2M, -15%) games dropped double-digits. (via Programming Insider [1], [2], [3]/ShowBuzz Daily)
Warriors Lift NBA TV Again
- Tuesday’s Hawks/Warriors NBA regular season game drew 684,000 viewers on NBA TV, the network’s third-largest audience of the season behind only Warriors/Pacers in December (823K) and Spurs/Warriors in January (1.4M). (Twitter)
NFL Combine Viewership Drops
- Day two of the NFL Scouting Combine scored 346,000 viewers on NFL Network Saturday, down 34% from last year (527K) and down 27% from 2014, when coverage aired on a Sunday (472K). On Sunday, final day coverage had 265,000 — off 19% from last year (327K) but up 80% from ’14, when coverage aired on a Monday (147K). (ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2])
