ESPN averaged a 0.9 U.S. rating and 1.4 million viewers for its ’11-12 regular season (non-conference tournament) men’s college basketball games, flat compared to the net’s figures from ’10-11 and ‘09-10. Louisville topped all markets for the season with a 4.5 local rating, followed by Greensboro (3.5) and K.C. (2.8). ESPN2 averaged a 0.3 rating and 449,000 viewers for its games, flat in rating compared to last season, but viewers were up 7%. CBS finished with a 1.3 rating and 1.9 million viewers for its 30 games this season. That rating figure is flat compared to last season, but up from ’09-10, while viewership was down compared to 2.0 million viewers last season. NBC Sports Network aired seven Mountain West Conference games this season for the first time. The slate of Saturday 4:00pm ET games averaged 88,000 viewers.
| NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL REGULAR-SEASON RATINGS, VIEWERSHIP |
| NET | GMS | RAT. | % +/- | VIEWERS (000) | % +/- | '10-11 GMS |
| CBS | 30 | 1.3 | 0.0% | 1,900 | -5.0% | 30 |
| ESPN | 130 | 0.9 | 0.0% | 1,400 | 0.0% | 151 |
| ESPN2 | 184 | 0.3 | 0.0% | 449 | 6.7% | 202 |
| NBC Sports Network | 7 | 0.1 | n/a | 88 | n/a | n/a |
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TOP GAMES: The March 3 North Carolina-Duke matchup on ESPN marked the most-viewed game of the regular season with 4.2 million viewers and also marked the net’s most-viewed college basketball game in four years. The Carrier Classic from Nov. 11, which featured North Carolina-Michigan State, ranked second with 3.9 million viewers. The top five most-viewed games on ESPN this season also topped any college game which aired on CBS’ slate. The North Carolina-Kentucky matchup from Dec. 3 led all of CBS’ games with 3.1 million viewers, followed by the Ohio State-Michigan matchup on March 4. Listed below are the top five most-viewed games on ESPN and CBS from the '11-12 regular season.
| TELECAST | DATE | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| North Carolina-Duke | 3/3 | 6:54-9:07pm | 2.7 | 4,247 |
Carrier Classic:
North Carolina-Michigan State | 11/11 | 7:00-9:47pm | 2.4 | 3,859 |
| Kentucky-Indiana | 12/10 | 5:24-7:34pm | 2.3 | 3,585 |
| Duke-Ohio State | 11/29 | 9:37-11:35pm | 2.3 | 3,422 |
| Duke-North Carolina | 2/8 | 9:14-11:18pm | 2.2 | 3,121 |
| TELECAST | DATE | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| North Carolina-Kentucky | 12/3 | 12:00-2:06pm | 2.0 | 3,070 |
| Ohio State-Michigan State | 3/4 | 4:31-6:36pm | 2.0 | 3,065 |
| Missouri-Kansas | 2/25 | 4:19-6:35pm | 1.9 | 2,939 |
| Wisconsin-Ohio State | 2/26 | 4:19-6:09pm | 1.8 | 2,895 |
| Indiana-Ohio State | 1/15 | 4:35-6:34pm | 1.9 | 2,881 |
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FIRST FOUR: truTV averaged a 0.9 overnight Nielsen rating for two First Four games last night as part of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, down from a 1.0 overnight last year. Both the Western Kentucky-Mississippi Valley State and BYU-Iona matchups last night earned a 0.9 rating (6:30pm-12:00am). Last year’s first telecasts featured UNC-Asheville's defeat of Arkansas-Little Rock and Clemson-UAB.
