Duke continues to move the needle.
Saturday’s Virginia-Duke men’s college basketball game scored a 2.3 rating and 3.76 million viewers on ESPN, up 188% in ratings and viewership from last year (Baylor-Kansas: 0.8, 1.31M) and up 130% in both measures from 2017 (South Carolina-Kentucky: 1.0, 1.63M).
Compared to last year’s meeting between the teams, which aired on CBS, ratings increased 15% (from 2.0) and viewership 24% (from 3.04M).
The Blue Devils’ narrow win, which peaked with 4.98 million viewers, ranks as the highest rated and most-watched college basketball game of the season.
The previous highs were a 1.9 and 2.99 million for Indiana-Michigan on CBS earlier this month, which had a direct lead-in from the NFL playoffs. Duke has now played in six of the nine most-watched games this season, with each of those six games airing on ESPN.
UVA-Duke topped a busy night of sports TV, finishing comfortably ahead of Lakers-Rockets on ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime (2.05, 3.39M) and UFC prelims on ESPN (1.2, 1.96M).
Raleigh-Durham and Louisville tied as the top markets for Saturday’s game, each pulling an 11.2. Greensboro, N.C., ranked third (10.2), with Virginia markets Richmond (9.9) and Norfolk (7.6) rounding out the top five.
In other weekend college hoops action, ESPN drew a 1.2 (+100%) and 1.88 million for Kentucky-Auburn (+107%); FOX scored a 0.7 (+133%) and 1.09 million (+114%) for Indiana-Purdue; CBS topped out at a 0.7 (-13%) and 1.03 million for Florida-Georgia (-11%).
Top College Basketball Games, 2018-19 Season
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 1.23; ESPN PR 1.23]
