The annual twin-bill of college hoops bluebloods was a mixed draw on ESPN.
Kansas/Duke scored a 1.5 final rating and 2.4 million viewers in the second half of ESPN’s Champions Classic doubleheader Tuesday night, up 27% in viewership from Michigan State/Kansas last year, ratings for which were unavailable (1.9M) but down 12% and 14%, respectively, from Kentucky/Kansas in 2014 (1.7, 2.7M).
Despite the increase, the Jayhawks’ narrow win ranks just ninth out of the twelve total Champions Classic games (dates back to 2011). Figures do not include the 83,000 who streamed the game on WatchESPN, the largest college basketball audience ever on the platform.
In the early window, Kentucky/Michigan State scored a 1.3 final rating and 2.1 million viewers — down 35% in ratings and a third in viewership from Kentucky/Duke last year (2.0, 3.1M) and down 19% and 16%, respectively, from Duke/Michigan State in ’14 (1.6, 2.5M).
The Wildcats’ blowout win ranks tenth out of the twelve Champions Classic games. As with the early game, figures do not include streaming viewership on WatchESPN (67K).
(Tue. numbers from ESPN Media Zone 11/16, Programming Insider 11/16)
