After back-to-back weeks in which the SEC topped the charts, the Big Ten took top honors this past weekend.
CBS averaged 2.11 million viewers for Illinois-Michigan and 2.03 million for Wisconsin-Michigan State in a men’s college basketball doubleheader Sunday, up 61 and 92 percent respectively from last year’s equivalent windows (Michigan-Ohio State: 1.31M; Indiana-Maryland: 1.06M), and the two most-watched college games of the weekend.
The games rank second and third for the season on CBS, behind only a Thanksgiving Day Illinois-Arkansas game that immediately followed the NFL. Across all networks, they rank fifth and seventh.
CBS did not fare as well on Saturday, averaging 1.01 million for Cincinnati-Houston (-2%), 925,000 for Seton Hall-St. John’s (-39%) and 717,000 for UConn-Providence.
In other action, Tennessee’s narrow win over Alabama averaged 1.97 million on ESPN — up 53% from NC State-North Carolina last year (1.3M) and the ninth-largest audience of the season. SEC teams have played in five of the ten most-watched games this season, more than any other league.
The SEC delivered the day’s top two audiences on the ESPN networks, as ABC drew 1.56 million for Auburn-Kentucky earlier in the day — up 21% from the same window last year (Kansas-Baylor: 1.3M).
In Big 12 action, ESPN drew 880,000 for Arizona-Iowa State following the NHL Stadium Series — down 44% from last year’s Tennessee-Alabama matchup (1.57M).
Shifting to women’s action, ESPN averaged 685,000 for Kentucky-South Carolina and 584,000 for Louisville-Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon. The doubleheader increased over last year, which featured three of the same four teams — albeit in reverse order (Louisville-Notre Dame: 356K; Tennessee-South Carolina: 679K).
USC-UCLA averaged 660,000 on FOX Saturday night, down 50% from a Michigan State-Purdue men’s game last year (1.32M).
