ESPN’s Big Monday and Super Tuesday college basketball went in opposite directions this week. In other news, the year’s first U.S. men’s soccer friendly scored , and ESPN drew mixed numbers for the X Games over the weekend.
UNC/Louisville Down, Kentucky/Tennessee Up, on ESPN
- North Carolina/Louisville college basketball drew 1.6 million viewers on ESPN Monday, down 21% from Virginia/UNC last year (2.1M) and a fraction of a percent from Notre Dame/Syracuse in 2014 (1.631M to 1.626M). It had a 1.1 final rating, off 15% from last year (1.3) but up a tick from ’14 (1.0). The Texas/Baylor nightcap a 0.7 (-30%) and 950,000 (-39%). On Tuesday, Kentucky/Tennessee had 1.5 million — up 6% from Indiana/Wisconsin last year (1.4M) but off 3% from Ohio State/Iowa in ’14 (1.5M). Indiana/Michigan followed with a 0.7 (+40%) and 1.0 million (+71%).
First USMNT Friendly of ’16 Posts Increase
- Sunday’s United States/Iceland men’s soccer friendly scored 531,000 viewers on ESPN2, up 109% from the first U.S. friendly last year, a Wednesday night match against Chile on Fox Sports 1 (254K). Compared to last year’s first friendly on the ESPN family of networks, a Sunday afternoon match against Panama on the so-called mothership, viewership declined 21% from 674,000.
ESPN’s X Games Viewership Up Saturday, Down Sunday
- Coverage of the Winter X Games scored 1.1 million viewers on ESPN Saturday night, up 10% from last year (996K) and down 11% from 2014 (1.2M). The telecast was the most-watched of this year’s event. The following day, additional coverage scored 909,000 — down 19% from last year (1.1M) and down 6% from 2014 (964K).
(Numbers via Programming Insider [1], [2], ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2], [3])
