College basketball’s Jimmy V Classic earned its largest and smallest audiences in at least five years. In other news, CBS had its strongest college basketball debut since 2011, and UConn/Notre Dame was a bigger draw than in previous years.
Jimmy V Classic Hits High and Low
- Florida/Duke had a 0.9 final rating and 1.4 million viewers in college basketball’s Jimmy V Classic Tuesday night, up 29% in ratings and 36% in viewership from Maryland/Connecticut last year (0.7, 1.0M). Compared to Indiana/Louisville in 2014, ratings were flat and viewership inched up a fraction of a percent (from 1.418M to 1.423M). It was the most-watched Jimmy V Classic game since at least 2011. Earlier in the night, Purdue/Arizona State had a 0.4 and 554,000 (-27%), the event’s least-watched game since at least 2011. (via Programming Insider 12/7)
UCLA/Kentucky Highest Rated CBS Debut Since 2011
- UCLA/Kentucky earned a 1.3 final rating and 1.9 million viewers in the season debut of college basketball on CBS last Saturday, up 160% in ratings and 184% in viewership from Temple/Wisconsin last year (0.5, 677K). The 1.3 rating is the highest for the first CBS game of the season since North Carolina/Kentucky in 2011 (2.0). (via ShowBuzz Daily 12/6)
UConn/Notre Dame Up From Past Two Years
- Wednesday’s Connecticut/Notre Dame women’s college basketball game, a matchup of the nation’s top two teams, had 729,000 viewers on ESPN2 — up 7% from their meeting last year (680K), up 18% from their 2014 game (618K), and the rivals’ most-watched matchup since March 2013 (780K). To put the numbers in perspective, it outdrew every game of this year’s WNBA Finals. The Huskies’ win had a 0.5 final rating; last year’s rating was not available. (via Programming Insider 12/8)
