ESPN had a third straight season of record-setting viewership for its men’s college basketball telecasts. ESPN averaged 1.45 million viewers during the ’13-14 season, up 6% from 1.37 million viewers last season and up 7% from 1.35 million viewers in ’11-12. Louisville was the top-rated market for ESPN’s telecasts for the 12th straight season, averaging a 4.5 local rating for all games. Greensboro-Winston-Salem, K.C. and Raleigh-Durham tied for second with each having a 2.8 local rating. Meanwhile, ESPN2 saw a 2% year-over-year decline for its games, while viewership was down 8% compared to two seasons ago. ESPNU averaged 140,000 viewers this season, relatively flat compared to the prior two seasons. CBS averaged 1.8 million viewers for its 32 games this season, flat compared to last season. FS1 during its first season of college basketball games averaged 95,000 viewers. Big East games were the most-viewed on the network, averaging 112,000 viewers. NBCSN averaged 91,000 viewers.
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MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL REGULAR-SEASON VIEWERSHIP
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|
NET
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
'13-14 (000)
|
1-YEAR % +/-
|
'12-13 (000)
|
2-YEAR % +/-
|
|
CBS
|
1,800
|
1,800
|
0.0%
|
1,900
|
-5.3%
|
|
ESPN
|
1,454
|
1,370
|
6.1%
|
1,353
|
7.5%
|
|
ESPN2
|
414
|
424
|
-2.4%
|
449
|
-7.8%
|
|
ESPNU
|
140
|
141
|
-0.7%
|
140
|
0.0%
|
|
FS1
|
95
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
NBCSN
|
91
|
77
|
18.2%
|
88
|
8.0%
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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NOTES: Figures not available for CBS Sports Network, Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Network.
