ESPN last Saturday night drew 4.06 million viewers for the Duke-North Carolina men’s basketball game, easily marking the best college basketball audience of the season. It passed the audience for Kentucky-UNC on CBS on Dec. 17, which drew 3.62 million viewers. Saturday also was the Duke-UNC rivalry's best figure since the second matchup of the ’15 season drew 4.24 million viewers. Duke and UNC also play on Friday night in the ACC Tournament semifinals, marking the first time the teams have met in the conference tourney since ’11. That game, which was the championship and aired on ESPN in a Sunday afternoon window, drew 2.08 million viewers.
|
DUKE-UNC MEN'S BASKETBALL AUDIENCE TREND ON ESPN
|
|
DATE
|
DAY
|
START (ET)
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
3/4/17
|
Sat.
|
8:16pm
|
4,061
|
|
2/9/17
|
Thurs.
|
8:00pm
|
3,085
|
|
3/5/16
|
Sat.
|
6:30pm
|
3,174
|
|
2/17/16
|
Wed.
|
9:07pm
|
2,863
|
|
3/7/15
|
Sat.
|
9:00pm
|
4,241
|
|
2/18/15
|
Wed.
|
8:59pm
|
4,136
|
|
3/8/14
|
Sat.
|
9:00pm
|
3,498
|
|
2/20/14
|
Thurs.
|
9:08pm
|
2,285
|
|
3/9/13
|
Sat.
|
8:55pm
|
2,787
|
|
2/13/13
|
Wed.
|
9:06pm
|
2,353
|
SECOND VERSE: Fox on Sunday afternoon drew 6.6 million viewers for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race from Atlanta, leading all sports the week ending March 4. However, that figure marks the least-viewed second Cup race of the season in at least a decade. The race last year from Atlanta drew 6.8 million viewers.
SHOCKERS & AWE: Wichita State’s blowout win over Illinois State on Sunday afternoon drew 1.36 million viewers on CBS, marking the best audience for the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball tournament final since ’14, when WSU’s win over Indiana State drew 1.49 million viewers. CBS drew 1.13 million viewers for Northern Iowa’s win over Evansville last year.
AROUND THE WORLD: Dustin Johnson’s win at the WGC-Mexico Championship delivered NBC 3.46 million viewers on Sunday afternoon, down from 4.02 million viewers for Adam Scott’s win last year when the event was played at Doral in Miami. This year, however, is up from 3.3 million viewers for Johnson’s win in ’15 at Doral.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
Monster Energy NASCAR
Cup Series: Folds of Honor
QuikTrip 500 (Atlanta) |
3/5
|
Fox
|
3:00-6:30pm
|
3.8
|
6,597
|
College basketball:
Duke-North Carolina |
3/4
|
ESPN
|
8:16-10:33pm
|
2.4
|
4,061
|
WGC-Mexico Championship:
Final Round |
3/5
|
NBC
|
2:00-6:00pm
|
2.2
|
3,456
|
| NBA: Warriors-Knicks |
3/5
|
ABC
|
3:29-6:05pm
|
2.1
|
3,276
|
Premier Boxing Champions:
Keith Thurman d. Danny Garcia |
3/4
|
CBS
|
9:00-11:14pm
|
1.9
|
3,060
|
| NBA: Warriors-Bulls |
3/2
|
TNT
|
8:14-10:43pm
|
n/a
|
2,704
|
WGC-Mexico Championship:
Third Round |
3/4
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.6
|
2,492
|
| NBA: Cavaliers-Celtics |
3/1
|
ESPN
|
8:00-10:37pm
|
n/a
|
2,251
|
| NBA: Spurs-Pelicans |
3/3
|
ESPN
|
9:36pm-12:20am
|
n/a
|
1,814
|
| NBA: Thunder-Trail Blazers |
3/2
|
TNT
|
10:43pm-1:23am
|
n/a
|
1,795
|
College basketball:
Notre Dame-Louisville |
3/4
|
CBS
|
2:10-4:06pm
|
1.1
|
1,681
|
| NBA: Clippers-Bulls |
3/4
|
ABC
|
8:29-10:55pm
|
1.1
|
1,673
|
College basketball:
Kansas-Oklahoma State |
3/4
|
ESPN
|
6:04-7:59pm
|
1.0
|
1,645
|
College basketball:
Washington State-UCLA |
3/4
|
ESPN
|
10:33pm-12:22am
|
1.1
|
1,644
|
| NBA: Thunder-Mavericks |
3/5
|
ESPN
|
8:30-11:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,638
|
College basketball:
Purdue-Northwestern |
3/5
|
CBS
|
4:30-6:30pm
|
1.0
|
1,623
|
| NBA: Rockets-Clippers |
3/1
|
ESPN
|
10:37pm-1:04am
|
n/a
|
1,558
|
| Liga MX: Leon-Club America |
3/5
|
Univision
|
8:00-10:58pm
|
0.8
|
1,556
|
College basketball:
Vanderbilt-Kentucky |
2/28
|
ESPN
|
9:05-11:12pm
|
n/a
|
1,489
|
College basketball:
Kentucky-Texas A&M |
3/4
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:10pm
|
1.0
|
1,476
|
College basketball:
MVC Championship:
Wichita State-Illinois State |
3/5
|
CBS
|
2:05-4:30pm
|
0.9
|
1,358
|
College basketball:
Arizona-Arizona State |
3/4
|
CBS
|
4:06-6:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,352
|
College basketball:
Cincinnati-UConn |
3/5
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:05pm
|
0.9
|
1,288
|
| Gymnastics: American Cup |
3/4
|
NBC
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,043
|
"Colgate Skating &
Gymnastics Spectacular" |
3/4
|
ABC
|
3:00-5:00pm
|
0.7
|
888
|
Women's Soccer:
SheBelieves Cup:
U.S.-England |
3/4
|
Fox
|
5:00-7:00pm
|
0.5
|
728
|
College basketball:
Villanova-Georgetown |
3/4
|
Fox
|
12:03-2:15pm
|
0.4
|
588
|
"World of X Games:
Best of Aspen" |
3/4
|
ABC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
574
|
College basketball:
Seton Hall-Butler |
3/4
|
Fox
|
2:33-4:45pm
|
0.4
|
543
|
