The season’s second meeting between Syracuse and Duke was nearly as strong a draw as the first. In other news, ABC earned its lowest NBA rating in three years on Sunday, and the Accenture Match Play Championship held steady on CBS despite the Olympics.
Syracuse/Duke Earns Another Strong Number For ESPN
- Last Saturday’s Syracuse/Duke men’s college basketball game earned a 2.4 U.S. rating and 4.2 million viewers on ESPN, the network’s sixth-most viewed regular season game ever. The season’s first meeting between Duke and Syracuse, which aired on the day before the Super Bowl, ranks fourth (4.7M). Not surprisingly, five of the six most-viewed games have involved Duke.
Clippers/Thunder ABC’s Lowest Rated NBA Game in Three Years
- Sunday’s Clippers/Thunder NBA regular season game drew a 1.7 final rating and 2.5 million viewers on ABC, down 15% in ratings and viewership from Lakers/Mavericks last year (2.0, 2.9M), and the lowest rated NBA game on ABC since Suns/Spurs in April 2011 (1.3). Later in the day, Bulls/Heat earned a 2.4 and 3.7 million; there was no comparable game last year. Both games aired opposite the Olympics and the Daytona 500 rain delay.
Accenture Match Play on Par With Last Year Despite Olympics
- Coverage of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships earned a 1.8 final rating and 2.5 million viewers on CBS Sunday afternoon, flat in ratings but down 1% in viewership from last year on NBC (1.8, 2.6M), and down 22% and 24%, respectively, from 2012 (2.3, 3.3M). The 1.8 rating is tied as the second-lowest for Sunday coverage of the event since 2001. Saturday coverage earned a 1.3 and 1.8 million, flat in ratings and down 6% in viewership from both last year (1.3, 1.9M) and 2012 (1.3, 1.9M).
(Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
