The college basketball season is off to a mixed start in the ratings, with a pair of early season showcases going in opposite directions.
College basketball’s Champions Classic averaged 1.86 million viewers on ESPN Tuesday night, down 21% from last year (2.35M) and the smallest audience yet for the annual doubleheader (dates back to 2011). In particular, Michigan State-Duke averaged 1.96 million (-19%) and Kansas-Kentucky 1.77 million (-22%), the latter ranking as the least-watched individual game in event history (20 total).
Last year, when the event was played as scheduled in early November, Duke-Kansas averaged 2.42 million and Michigan State-Kentucky 2.27 million.
Though down double-digits, the Champions Classic still delivered the two largest audiences of the week-old college basketball season.
The following night’s Jimmy V Classic averaged 1.24 million, up 41% from last year (881K) and the largest audience for the event in at least six years. West Virginia-Gonzaga averaged 1.41 million and Illinois-Baylor 1.04 million, up 44% and 33% respectively from last year’s games (Texas Tech-Louisville: 976K; Indiana-UConn: 787K).
Individually, the games were the most-watched in the Jimmy V Classic since Florida-Duke in 2016 (1.42M).
Mixed results have been the trend so far in the college basketball season. Earlier Wednesday, the Texas-North Carolina Maui Invitational final averaged just 473,000 — down 66% from Kansas-Dayton on the day before Thanksgiving last year (1.39M). A week earlier on Thanksgiving night, the Villanova-Arizona State Empire Classic final averaged 901,000 — up 10% from Duke-Georgetown on Black Friday last year (821K). Schedule shifts would seem to be an obvious factor.
In other action, ESPN opened its college hoops schedule with a 0.24 and 439,000 for a midday Illinois State-Ohio State game on the day before Thanksgiving, down sharply from Alabama-UNC in a similar window last year (0.55, 867K).
FOX averaged a 0.7 and 1.25 million for Gonzaga-Kansas on Thanksgiving and a 0.6 and 1.03 million for Auburn-Gonzaga on Black Friday. Last season, FOX opened its season in December with a mere 0.37 and 526,000 for Florida-Butler.
