NCAA Men's Regular-Season Ratings Flat On CBS, ESPN, ESPN2
By Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor
Ratings for NCAA men's basketball regular-season games were flat on CBS this season, but viewership saw a 3.6% jump. The net's most-viewed game was the March 8 Duke-North Carolina contest, which earned a 2.9 rating and 4.6 million viewers. On ABC, ratings were off this season, but the net did see a slight increase in viewership. Meanwhile, both ESPN and ESPN2 were flat in their cable ratings. Both nets, however, saw gains in viewership. ESPN's most-viewed regular-season game for '08-09 was the February 11 North Carolina-Duke game, which garnered a 2.5 cable rating and 3.3 million viewers. The charts below list NCAA men's regular-season ratings and viewership for broadcast and national cable nets, with comparisons to last season.
|
'08-09 NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL REGULAR SEASON
|
|
NET
|
RATING
|
% +/-
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
% +/-
|
|
CBS
|
1.3
|
0.0%
|
1,938
|
3.6%
|
|
ABC
|
1.1
|
-8.3%
|
1,585
|
1.0%
|
|
NET
|
CABLE RATING
|
% +/-
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
% +/-
|
|
ESPN
|
1.0
|
0.0%
|
1,258
|
3.7%
|
|
ESPN2
|
0.4
|
0.0%
|
479
|
11.1%
|
|
Versus
|
0.1
|
0.0%
|
55
|
n/a
|
|
