Ohio State-Michigan topped last weekend’s college hoops ratings charts. In other news, PGA ratings held steady against the Olympics last weekend, the NBA returned from the All-Star break with mixed numbers, and out-of-home viewership gave slight boosts to the Daytona 500 and College Football Playoff.
Ohio State-Michigan Leads Last Weekend CBB
Saturday’s Alabama-Kentucky matchup was second, with a 1.2 and 1.8 million on CBS. There was no comparable window last year. Rounding out the top five, West Virginia-Kansas had a 0.95 (+6%) and 1.6 million (+6%) on ESPN, Villanova-Xavier had a 0.9 (+87%) and 1.4 million (+114%) on FOX, and North Carolina-Louisville had a 0.7 (-32%) and 1.2 million (-26%) on ESPN.
Shifting to the workweek, Oklahoma-Kansas had a 0.8 and 1.4 million on ESPN’s Big Monday — up a tick in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year (Texas-WVU: 0.7, 1.1M). Miami-Notre Dame had a 0.47 (-36%) and 702,000 (-37%) earlier in the night.
As for Super Tuesday, Kentucky-Arkansas drew a 0.8 (+33%) and 1.2 million (+25%) and Illinois-Michigan State a 0.55 and 806,000 (+1%).
PGA L.A. Ratings Even Despite Olympics
Third round action the previous day had a 1.5 (flat) and 2.2 million (-2%). Lead-in coverage on Golf Channel had a 0.57 (+36%) and 833,000 (+37%) on Saturday and a 0.58 (-13%) and 889,000 (-13%) on Sunday.
NBA Mixed in Return From Hiatus
Out of Home Lifts Daytona, CFB Playoff
In related news, ESPN’s College Football Playoff games had similar out-of-home growth. The Alabama-Georgia national championship game increased 5% from 28.4 million (across TV and streaming) to 29.9 million. The Georgia-Oklahoma Rose Bowl increased 6% from 26.8 to 28.3 million. Finally, the Alabama-Clemson Sugar Bowl rose 3% from 21.5 to 22.1 million.
As previously reported, out-of-home viewership lifted the Super Bowl 12% from 106.0 to 118.2 million viewers.
[Numbers from ShowBuzz Daily 2.21, 2.23, Programming Insider 2.22a, 2.22b, Fox Sports, ESPN]
