College basketball’s highest-profile rivalry was less of a draw, but still did quite well for ESPN.
Duke/North Carolina college basketball scored a 1.8 final rating and 2.9 million viewers on ESPN Wednesday night, down 31% in ratings and viewership from the rivals’ first matchup last season (2.6, 4.1M) but up 20% and 25%, respectively, from their first meeting in 2014, which was rescheduled due to inclement weather (1.5, 2.3M).
Despite the decline, Duke’s narrow win scored the third-largest audience of the season on the ESPN family of networks, behind only Kentucky/Duke in November’s Champions Classic (3.1M) and Kentucky/Kansas in January (3.0M). Three of ESPN’s six largest audiences have taken place in the past week, with Saturday’s Virginia/Duke and Kansas/Oklahoma games ranking fifth (2.196M) and sixth (2.188M), respectively.
Earlier in the night, Syracuse/Louisville scored a 0.8 and 1.2 million earlier in the night — down a third in ratings and 30% in viewership from the same matchup last year (1.2, 1.7M).
In other action, Tuesday’s Michigan/Ohio State game had a 0.6 and 896,000 on ESPN — down 63% in ratings and 65% in viewership from Kentucky/Tennessee last year (1.6, 2.5M), but down only a tick and 13%, respectively, from Kentucky/Mississippi in 2014 (0.7, 1.0M). West Virginia/Texas had a 0.4 and 703,000 in the nightcap, down 56% in ratings and 50% in viewership from Michigan State/Michigan last year (0.9, 1.4M) but flat and up 23%, respectively, from Georgia/Tennessee in ’14 (0.4, 571K).
Oklahoma State/Kansas had a 0.7 and 1.1 million on Monday night, down 30% in ratings and 26% in viewership from Kansas/West Virginia last year (1.0, 1.5M) and but flat and up 8%, respectively, from Oklahoma State/Baylor in 2014 (0.7, 1.0M). N.C. State/Virginia had a 0.6 and 940,000 in the early window, down 25% in ratings and 18% in viewership from Pittsburgh/Virginia last year (0.8, 1.1M) and down 25% and 19%, respectively, from North Carolina/Florida State in ’14 (0.8, 1.2M).
