Duke-Gonzaga delivered college basketball’s largest early season audience since Duke-Gonzaga three years ago. Plus: an NBA season-high for ESPN and a 17-year high for Major League Soccer.
Duke-Gonzaga scores big for ESPN
Last Friday’s Duke-Gonzaga men’s college basketball game averaged 2.79 million viewers on ESPN, the largest audience for a college basketball game prior to New Year’s Day since the same matchup in the 2018 Maui Invitational final (2.85M).
Duke’s win ranks as easily the most-watched game of the young season, cruising past the previous high of 1.78 million for Duke-Kentucky in the Champions Classic. It also averaged more viewers than all-but-one NBA game so far this season, Warriors-Lakers on Opening Night (3.39M).
The game outperformed its college football lead-in, edging North Carolina-NC State (2.68M).
In other college basketball action, Dayton’s upset of Kansas earlier Friday averaged 668,000, preceded by Baylor-Michigan State at 806,000. Last Wednesday’s Wisconsin-St. Mary’s Maui Invitational final drew 1.01 million, up 113% from last year, when it aired on a non-holiday weekday afternoon in December (Texas-UNC: 473K), but down 27% from the pre-Thanksgiving edition in 2019 (Kansas-Dayton: 1.39M).
ESPN scores NBA season-high for Sixers-Warriors
Last Wednesday’s Sixers-Warriors NBA regular season game averaged 2.10 million viewers on ESPN, down 10% from the comparable window in 2019 (Lakers-Pelicans: 2.34M) but the network’s most-watched game of the season. The network’s previous high was 2.09 million for Suns-Lakers last month.
Golden State’s comeback win, which peaked with 2.23 million, ranks fourth for the season across all networks. The Warriors have played in three of the top four, four of the top six and five of the top eight games this season.
Earlier in the night, Nets-Celtics drew 1.49 million — down 15% from the same matchup in 2019 (1.76M).
MLS scores 17-year high in post-NFL Thanksgiving slot
Airing immediately after an NFL game, a Major League Soccer playoff match (Colorado-Portland) averaged 1.85 million viewers on FOX Thanksgiving Day — the largest MLS audience on a single network since 2004 (DC-San Jose: 1.97M). Keep in mind MLS has attracted larger combined audiences across multiple networks, including 2.01 million for the 2016 MLS Cup.
Portland’s win averaged far fewer viewers than the half-hour pregame, which scored a whopping 7.22 million. Due to an labeling error on ShowBuzz Daily, it was initially believed Tuesday — and reported — that the pregame figure was for the match.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 11.29, 11.30 a, b, network PR]
