Ratings: College hoops, NBA, PGA Tour and more

CBS scored a 1.6 rating and 2.63 million viewers for last Sunday’s top five Michigan-Ohio State college basketball game, the network’s most-watched regular season telecast in nearly two years (2019 Kentucky-Tennessee: 2.76M) and easily the highest rated and most-watched game of the season. The previous high was 2.00 million for Oklahoma-Kansas on CBS following an NFL playoff game last month.

Ratings increased 211% and viewership 254% from last year’s comparable window (St. John’s-Seton Hall: 0.51, 743K).

No other game last weekend was nearly as big a draw, with Virginia-Duke a distant second at a 0.7 and 1.23 million on ESPN Saturday night — still up 65% and 74% respectively from a similar window last year (Oregon-Arizona: 0.43, 704K).

Shifting to the workweek, Syracuse-Duke drew 827,000 viewers on ESPN’s Big Monday (-12%), followed by Texas Tech-Oklahoma State at a 0.40 (-29%) and 590,000 (-33%). Kansas-Texas had a 0.45 (-4%) and 744,000 (+3%) on Super Tuesday, preceded by Florida-Auburn at just 271,000 viewers (-74%). Illinois-Michigan State on FS1 nearly doubled the Gators’ win head-to-head (536K).

Celtics-Pelicans averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.26 million viewers on ABC’s NBA Sunday Showcase last weekend, up 17% in ratings and 14% in viewership from the first Sunday Showcase game last year, which aired on Super Bowl Sunday (Pelicans-Rockets: 1.2, 1.99M), but down 39% and 37% respectively from Celtics-Lakers on the same February weekend last year (2.3, 3.59M).

New Orleans’ comeback win was the top NBA game of a weekend that included the league’s highest profile teams. The previous night, Heat-Lakers drew a 1.3 and 2.20 million on ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime — up 18% and 29% respectively from the same weekend last year (Sixers-Bucks: 1.1, 1.71M). On ESPN Sunday night, Nets-Clippers drew a 0.9 and 1.51 million.

In other action, Jazz-Clippers drew a 0.75 (-4%) and 1.25 million (+6%) on ESPN last Friday, preceded by Bulls-Sixers at a 0.6 (-14%) and 972,000 (-4%). Shifting to this week, TNT drew 1.03 million for Celtics-Mavericks (-11%) on Tuesday, followed by 1.14 million for Blazers-Nuggets (-49% from last year’s first meeting of LeBron James and Zion Williamson).

The final round of the PGA Tour’s Los Angeles tournament averaged a 2.2 rating and 3.62 million viewers on CBS Sunday, up 10% in ratings and 17% in viewership from last year (2.0, 3.09M), marking the third-straight final round to increase by double-digits. Weather delayed coverage the previous day drew a 0.9 and 1.40 million.

Lead-in coverage on Golf Channel pulled a 0.7 (+19%) and 1.16 million (+24%) on Sunday, while bonus coverage Saturday evening averaged a 0.51 and 869,000.

Last Sunday’s United States-Brazil women’s soccer match averaged 568,000 viewers on FS1, marking the most-watched USWNT match on the network — excluding the Women’s World Cup — since 2018. It was the team’s third-most watched match ever on FS1, again excluding the Women’s World Cup. … NBC averaged a 0.65 and 1.09 million for last Saturday’s Everton-Liverpool Premier League match, the fourth-largest audience of the season behind Liverpool-Leeds on the opening weekend (1.26M), Chelsea-Arsenal on Boxing Day (1.16M) and Manchester United-Arsenal last month (1.16M). … Coverage of the PBA Players Championship averaged a 0.59 and 958,000 on FOX last Sunday, down from the league’s US Open on the same weekend last year (0.7, 1.15M).