Viewership for the NIT Championship was the lowest in at least five years. In other news, viewership increased for both high school basketball All-American games, and the NCAA Division II championship also had an increase.
NIT Championship Least-Watched in At Least Five Years
- Thursday’s George Washington/Valparaiso NIT Championship earned 781,000 viewers on ESPN, down 24% from Stanford/Miami last year (1.0M) and down 40% from Minnesota/SMU in 2014 (1.3M). The Colonials’ win ranks as the least-watched NIT title game in at least five years. In Tuesday’s semifinals, Valparaiso/BYU had 759,000 and George Washington/San Diego State 705,000 — both down 15% from last year’s Miami/Temple (895K) and Stanford/Old Dominion (827K) semis.
Viewership Rises For H.S. All American Games
- Wednesday’s High School Basketball All-American Game had 616,000 viewers on ESPN, up 3% from last year (601K) but down 27% from 2014, the last time the game had an NBA lead-in (846K). Earlier in the night, the girls’ All-American Game had 77,000 on ESPNU — up 43% from last year’s 54,000.
NCAA D-II Championship Up Slightly
- Last Saturday’s Augustana/Lincoln Memorial NCAA D-II Basketball Championship had a 0.8 final rating and 1.2 million viewers on CBS, flat in ratings and up 2% in viewership from Florida Southern/Indiana University of Pennsylvania last year (1.19M to 1.17M) and down 20% and 11%, respectively, from Central Missouri/West Liberty in 2014 (1.0, 1.3M).
(Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2], [3], Sports Business Daily)
