ESPN earned a 2.7 U.S. rating and 4.2 million viewers for last Saturday's North Carolina-Duke men's basketball game, marking the net's most-watched college basketball game in four years, dating back to the same matchup on March 8, 2008 (3.4 rating, 5.6 million viewers). The rating is also even with CBS' broadcast of the second matchup in the rivalry last season (THE DAILY).
| DUKE-UNC MEN'S BASKETBALL TV TREND |
| DATE | NET | RATING | VIEWERS (000) |
| 3/3/12 | ESPN | 2.7 | 4,247 |
| 2/8/12 | ESPN | 2.2 | 3,121 |
| 3/13/11
(ACC Tourney final) | ESPN | 1.4 | 2,076 |
| 3/5/11 | CBS | 2.7 | 4,611 |
| 2/9/11 | ESPN | 1.5 | 2,367 |
| 3/6/10 | ESPN | 1.6 | 2,498 |
| 2/10/10 | ESPN | 1.4 | 2,241 |
| 3/8/09 | CBS | 2.9 | 4,625 |
| 2/11/09 | ESPN | 2.1 | 3,269 |
| 3/8/08 | ESPN | 3.4 | 5,612 |
| 2/6/08 | ESPN | 1.8 | 2,634 |
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FROM THE HARDWOOD: ABC earned a 4.3 rating and 7.0 million viewers for the Heat-Lakers game last Sunday, marking the net's most-viewed, regular-season, non-Christmas Day game ever (ESPN)....FS Southwest recorded a 5.5 local rating in Dallas-Ft. Worth for the Thunder-Mavericks game on Monday night, its highest rating on the net since a 6.2 rating for a game against the Knicks on March 30, 2007 (FS Southwest).
NEED FOR SPEED: Fox earned a 5.6 rating and 9.2 million viewers for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Subway Fresh Fit 500 on Sunday, topping all sports telecasts last weekend. Those figures are down 5% and 11%, respectively, from the same race last season (THE DAILY)....ESPN earned a 1.5 U.S. rating and 2.4 million viewers for last Saturday's Nationwide Series Bashas' Supermarkets 200, marking the net's most-viewed NNS race at Phoenix Int'l Raceway since ESPN re-acquired NASCAR rights prior to the '07 season (ESPN)....Speed's nightly show "NASCAR Race Hub" had its highest-rated week ever during the week of Feb. 27, fueled by the show airing prior to the first-ever primetime running of the Daytona 500. The show also set records among males 18-49, 35-54 and 25-54 (THE DAILY).
ICE CHIPS: Rogers Sportsnet Ontario recorded its largest audience ever for a regional NHL game Tuesday with an average of 1.05 million viewers tuning in to the Bruins-Maple Leafs matchup (Sportsnet)....FS Midwest last Thursday recorded a 4.9 local rating in St. Louis for the Blues-Canucks game, marking the net's highest-rated regular-season Blues road game. The 4.9 rating also marked the net's second highest-rated Blues game this season (FS Midwest)....MSG averaged a 7.1 local rating in Buffalo for the Sabres' three-game road trip against the Ducks, Sharks and Canucks from Feb. 29-March 3, marking the best average for a Western Conference road trip since the net began airing Sabres games during the '05-06 season (Sabres).
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Subway Fresh Fit 500 | 3/4 | Fox | 3:18-6:10pm | 5.6 | 9,230 |
| NBA: Heat-Lakers | 3/4 | ABC | 3:58-6:30pm | 4.3 | 6,997 |
| NBA: Knicks-Celtics | 3/4 | ABC | 12:56-3:58pm | 3.3 | 4,996 |
| Soccer friendly: Mexico-Colombia | 2/29 | Univ. | 7:55-10:12pm | 2.0 | 4,311 |
PGA Tour: Honda Classic:
Final Round | 3/4 | NBC | 3:14-5:41pm | 2.8 | 4,111 |
NCAA Basketball:
Ohio State-Michigan State | 3/4 | CBS | 4:31-6:36pm | 2.0 | 3,065 |
| PGA Tour: Honda Classic: Third Round | 3/3 | NBC | 3:00-6:00pm | 1.7 | 2,341 |
NCAA Basketball:
Kentucky-Florida | 3/4 | CBS | 12:00-2:00pm | 1.7 | 2,279 |
NCAA Basketball:
Louisville-Syracuse | 3/3 | CBS | 4:16-6:08pm | 1.4 | 1,990 |
NCAA Basketball: MVC
Championship: Creighton-Illinois St. | 3/4 | CBS | 2:00-4:31pm | 1.0 | 1,400 |
| Gymnastics: AT&T American Cup | 3/3 | NBC | 1:00-3:00pm | 1.0 | 1,395 |
| "NBA Countdown" | 3/4 | ABC | 12:30-12:56pm | 0.9 | n/a |
| NHL: Bruins-Rangers | 3/4 | NBC | 12:30-3:14pm | 0.8 | 1,191 |
| U-23 Soccer friendly: U.S.-Mexico | 2/29 | Telef. | 9:55pm-12:10am | 0.5 | 1,106 |
| NCAA Basketball: (regional) | 3/3 | CBS | 2:10-4:16pm | 0.8 | 1,094 |
| NCAA Basketball: Memphis-Tulsa | 3/3 | CBS | 12:00-2:10pm | 0.6 | 920 |
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" | 3/3 | ABC | 4:00-6:00pm | 0.5 | n/a |
Mexico Primera Division:
Toluca-UNAM | 3/4 | Univ. | 12:55-3:00pm | 0.4 | 766 |
Mexico Primera Division:
Club America-Jaguares | 3/4 | Univ. | 4:55-7:00pm | 0.4 | 760 |
| "The Big Time: Episode 7" | 3/3 | ABC | 3:00-4:00pm | 0.3 | n/a |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
NCAA Basketball:
North Carolina-Duke | 3/3 | ESPN | 6:54-9:07pm | 2.7 | 4,247 |
NASCAR Nationwide Series:
Bashas' Supermarkets 200 | 3/3 | ESPN2 | 4:30-6:40pm | 1.5 | 2,438 |
| NBA: Bulls-76ers | 3/4 | ESPN | 7:00-9:39pm | 1.5 | 2,276 |
| NCAA Basketball: Texas-Kansas | 3/3 | ESPN | 9:07-11:19pm | 1.4 | 2,184 |
| NBA: Heat-Trail Blazers | 3/1 | TNT | 10:49pm-1:25am | 1.6 | 2,136 |
| NBA: Thunder-Magic | 3/1 | TNT | 8:16-10:49pm | 1.4 | 2,027 |
| NBA: Nuggets-Spurs | 3/4 | ESPN | 9:39pm-12:10am | 1.3 | 1,867 |
PGA Tour: Honda Classic:
Final Round | 3/4 | Golf | 12:58-3:11pm | 1.1 | 1,716 |
| NBA: Bulls-Spurs | 2/29 | ESPN | 9:06-11:38pm | 1.2 | 1,601 |
NCAA Basketball:
Michigan State-Indiana | 2/28 | ESPN | 7:00-9:07pm | 1.0 | 1,567 |
