A marquee non-conference matchup delivered one of the top college hoops audiences of the season.
Last Saturday’s Kentucky-Kansas men’s college basketball game, part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, scored a 1.7 rating and 2.78 million viewers on ESPN — up a third in ratings and 25% in viewership from last year (Kentucky-West Virginia: 1.25, 2.23M), but down 15% and 17% respectively from the same matchup in 2017 (2.0, 3.35M).
Compared to last year’s Kentucky-Kansas game, which took place in the Champions Classic, ratings were flat and viewership increased 5% (from 2.66M).
The Wildcats’ win delivered the fourth-largest audience of the college basketball season, behind Virginia-Duke the previous week (3.76M), Indiana-Michigan three weeks earlier (2.99M), and Duke-Kentucky in November (2.85M). Kentucky has played in three of the top five games, with their December matchup against North Carolina ranking fifth (2.71M).
It ranked second for the day among sporting events, trailing only Warriors-Celtics on ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime (2.55, 4.29M).
In other college hoops action, CBS scored a 1.1 (flat) and 1.68 million (-1%) for Michigan State-Purdue Sunday afternoon, while FOX topped out at a 0.52 (-9%) and 745,000 (-13%) for Georgetown-St. John’s in the same window.
Shifting to the workweek, Duke-Notre Dame drew a 0.8 (-4%) and 1.25 million (-5%) on ESPN Monday night. Last year’s comparable window featured the same matchup. The TCU-Texas nightcap had just a 0.46 (-49%) and 674,000 (-53%).
On ESPN Tuesday, Kansas-Texas scored 914,000 viewers (-17%) and Kentucky-Vanderbilt 909,000 (-5%).
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 1.29, 1.30; Programming Insider 1.30]
