Kentucky’s loss to Tennessee was the biggest of the recent upsets, at least in the ratings. In other news, Arizona/UCLA delivered big gains for CBS, and Warriors/Rockets scored a big increase on ESPN.
Kentucky/Tennessee Tops Rash of Upsets
- Tennessee’s upset of Kentucky had 1.6 million viewers on the latest edition of ESPN’s Super Tuesday, up 77% from Georgia/LSU last year (910K) and up 135% from Florida/Alabama in 2015 (686K). Ratings were not immediately available. In the week’s other upsets, 1.3 million watched West Virginia knock off Kansas earlier in the night (+3%) and the same number saw N.C. State beat Duke on Big Monday (-4%). All three games trounced Villanova’s Tuesday night loss to Marquette on Fox Sports 1 (221K). Going back to the weekend, ESPN had a 1.0 rating (-17%) and 1.6 million viewers (-13%) for South Carolina/Kentucky and a 0.9 (+80%) and 1.4 million (+68%) for Miami/Duke Saturday night.
Arizona/UCLA Gives CBS Boost
- Last Saturday’s Arizona/UCLA game had a 1.2 final rating and 1.9 million viewers on CBS, up a third in ratings and 45% in viewership from UCLA/Oregon last year (0.9, 1.3M), up 50% and 79% respectively from UCLA/Oregon in 2015 (0.8, 1.1M), and the top college basketball game of the weekend. Earlier, Texas/Kansas drew a 0.9 (-36%) and 1.3 million (-40%). Bringing up the rear, Vanderbilt/Florida had a 0.7 and 909,000 on Saturday and Georgetown/Xavier a mere 0.4 and 687,000 opposite the NFC Championship Game on Sunday. There were no comparable windows last year.
Warriors/Rockets Up Big on ESPN
- Warriors/Rockets earned a 1.3 final rating and 2.1 million viewers on ESPN’s NBA Friday last week, up 63% in ratings and 65% in viewership from Heat/Raptors last year (0.8, 1.3M) and up 44% and 71% respectively from Bulls/Mavericks in 2015 (0.9, 1.2M). Compared to Pacers/Warriors on the comparable night last year, which aired in the late window, ratings were flat and viewership inched up 3% from 2.0 million. In the nightcap, Pacers/Lakers had a 0.9 (-31%) and 1.4 million (-32%). Over on TNT, Knicks/Pacers earned 976,000 on Monday night; there was no comparable window last year.
(Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 1/24a, 1/24b, 1/25, Programming Insider 1/24)
