Two of the biggest college sports rivalries topped the viewership charts on the penultimate weekend of the men’s college basketball season.
The season’s second edition of the Duke-North Carolina rivalry averaged 3.0 million viewers on ESPN, down from the rivals’ second meeting last season (3.1M), but still the second-largest audience of the college basketball season. CBS averaged more than five million for an Illinois-Arkansas Thanksgiving Day game that had a direct lead-in from the NFL.
Duke’s win, which peaked with 3.4 million viewers, comfortably outdrew the rivals’ first meeting this season — which ranks fourth for the season (2.3M). Overall, the Blue Devils played in four of the ten most-watched games so far this season, more than any other team.
Earlier in the day, the season’s second matchup of Alabama and Auburn averaged 2.1 million — doubling Oklahoma-Texas last year (1.0M). While viewership was no match for the rivals’ #1 vs. #2 matchup earlier this season (2.8M), the rematch still ranks among the ten most-watched games this season, with Alabama having played in three.
To put it another way, Duke and Alabama account for seven of the top ten games this season, with four of those coming against their most heated rivals.
While it is commonplace for both Duke-North Carolina games to rank in the top ten of any given season, that has not been the case for Alabama-Auburn, a rivalry that is far more associated with the gridiron than the hardwood. It should be noted that both Duke-UNC games declined this season, while both editions of the Iron Bowl increased over last year’s comparable windows.
The games were among seven on the ESPN networks this season to top the two million viewer mark, the most for any network since 2019. (Fueled primarily by Zion Williamson-led Duke, ESPN had nearly as many games — five — top the three million mark in 2019.)
Sandwiched between the two rivalry games, Arizona-Kansas averaged 1.7 million — up sharply from Kansas-Houston a year ago (1.2M). ESPN opened its Saturday slate with 1.3 million for Kentucky-Missouri, on par with last year’s matchup of Arkansas and Alabama.
Overall, ESPN averaged 1.7 million viewers for its five-game Saturday slate, its highest average on a college basketball Saturday since 2022.
In other action, CBS averaged 1.78 million for Michigan-Michigan State on Sunday, followed by 1.16 million for the Missouri Valley Tournament final (-30%). (The final game of the network’s tripleheader, the UCLA-USC women’s Big Ten Tournament final, averaged 1.44 million.)
On Saturday, the network drew 1.19 million for Ohio State-Indiana and 705,000 for Iowa State-Kansas State, down sharply from last year’s equivalent windows, Kentucky-Tennessee (2.61M) and Texas A&M-Mississippi (1.02M).
