Outside of March, college basketball’s best bet continues to be Kentucky against a high-profile opponent.
Kentucky/Kansas, part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, scored a 2.0 final rating and 3.3 million viewers on ESPN Saturday evening — up 11% in ratings and 12% in viewership from the same matchup last year (1.8, 3.0M) but down a tick and 4% respectively from Duke/Virginia in 2015 (2.1, 3.5M).
The Jayhawks’ win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched college basketball game on ESPN this season. Regardless of network, it ranks second behind Kentucky/North Carolina on CBS in December (2.2, 3.6M). Kentucky has now played in three of the four highest rated and most-watched games this season, with their December matchup against Louisville ranking fourth (1.7, 2.7M).
For the weekend, Kansas/Kentucky was the most-watched sporting event outside of the Pro Bowl, no small feat given the plethora of options on the first weekend without “real football” since August. It edged a pair of NBA games on ABC, Clippers/Warriors on Saturday night (3.35M to 3.26M) and Thunder/Cavaliers on Sunday (3.2M), though all three games ended up with the same 2.0 rating.
Figures do not include the 78,000 viewers who streamed coverage on WatchESPN, which brought the total audience up to 3.4 million.
Louisville led all markets with a big 15.6 rating, though that was only the fourth-highest for a college basketball game in the market this season. Kansas City ranked second (12.3), with Cincinnati (8.6), Nashville (6.4), Knoxville, TN (6.1) rounding out the top five.
Of note, no other college game on the ESPN family of networks last weekend managed to crack a 1.0 rating or one million viewers.
| TOP CBB GAMES, 2016-17 SEASON Through January 28 Ranked by viewership |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Game | Net | Rtg. | Vwrs. |
| 1 | Kentucky/UNC December 17 |
CBS | 2.2 | 3.62M |
| 2 | Kentucky/Kansas January 28 |
ESPN | 2.0 | 3.35M |
| 3 | Wisconsin/Purdue January 8 |
CBS | 1.9 | 2.97M |
| 4 | Kentucky/Louisville December 21 |
ESPN | 1.7 | 2.72M |
| 5 | MSU/Ohio State January 15 |
CBS | 1.5 | 2.363M |
| 6 | Kansas/Duke November 15 |
ESPN | 1.5 | 2.361M |
| 7 | Duke/Louisville January 14 |
ESPN | 1.4 | 2.09M |
| 8 | Kentucky/MSU November 15 |
ESPN | 1.3 | 2.08M |
| 9 | UNC/Indiana November 30 |
ESPN | 1.3 | 1.97M |
| 10 | Michigan/MSU January 28 |
CBS | 1.2 | 1.93M |
(Wknd. numbers from ESPN Media Zone 1.30, 1.31; ShowBuzz Daily 1.31)
