The State Farm Champions Classic, which annually features Duke, Kansas, Michigan State and Kentucky, averaged 2.82 million viewers for the two games on Tuesday night, marking the second-best average for the event in its seven years. Only the '13 doubleheader was higher with 3.52 million viewers. Last year's doubleheader averaged 2.23 million viewers. The early game on Tuesday night, Duke-Michigan State, led the way with 2.97 million viewers, while Kanas-Kentucky in the late window drew 2.66 million viewers. Meanwhile, the latest CFP Rankings Show, which aired in between the two games, averaged 3.79 million viewers, up big from 2.65 million viewers last year and 1.62 million viewers in '15.
GET YOUR KICKS: Year 3 of the MLS media-rights deal with ESPN, Fox Sports and Univision was generally positive. Fox Sports and Univision again saw year-over-year gains for the regular season. ESPN was down only 1%, and that slip can be attributed to more games on ESPN2 this season. The slate of games across ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 272,000 viewers this season, down 1%. However, ESPN had five fewer games in ’17, while ESPN2 had two more broadcasts. On their own, ESPN and ESPN2 actually both saw gains from ’16. Regardless, the combined average was still well above the ’15 season. Meanwhile, Fox and FS1 combined to averaged 236,000 viewers, up 5% from last season and up 2% from ’15. Univision averaged 265,000 viewers for its regular-season games, up from 245,000 viewers in ’16.
The chart below lists final audience figures for select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
NFL national window:
Cowboys-Falcons (89%) |
11/12
|
Fox
|
4:25-7:45pm
|
12.8
|
21,963
|
| "SNF": Patriots-Broncos |
11/12
|
NBC
|
8:32-11:23pm
|
10.2
|
17,510
|
| "TNF": Seahawks-Cardinals |
11/9
|
NBC/
NFL Net
|
8:29-11:30pm
|
7.9
|
13,104
|
| NFL: (regional) |
11/12
|
Fox
|
1:03-4:15pm
|
7.4
|
12,350
|
| NFL: (singleheader) |
11/12
|
CBS
|
1:03-4:05pm
|
7.2
|
11,827
|
| "MNF": Lions-Packers |
11/6
|
ESPN
|
8:15-11:19pm
|
6.8
|
11,153
|
| "The OT" |
11/12
|
Fox
|
7:27-8:00pm
|
6.0
|
10,178
|
| "Football Night in America" |
11/12
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:21pm
|
4.7
|
8,061
|
College football:
Georgia-Auburn |
11/11
|
CBS
|
3:45-7:15pm
|
4.4
|
7,407
|
College football:
Alabama-Mississippi State |
11/11
|
ESPN
|
7:01-10:31pm
|
3.9
|
7,031
|
College football:
Notre Dame-Miami |
11/11
|
ABC
|
8:07-11:40pm
|
3.9
|
6,727
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
11/12
|
Fox
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
2.9
|
4,691
|
College football:
Iowa-Wisconsin |
11/11
|
ABC
|
4:12-7:00pm
|
2.4
|
3,780
|
College football:
Michigan State-Ohio State |
11/11
|
Fox
|
12:06-4:05pm
|
2.4
|
3,728
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series: Can-Am 500 (Phoenix) |
11/12
|
NBC
|
2:46-6:00pm
|
2.2
|
3,640
|
| College football: (regional)* |
11/11
|
ABC
|
12:01-4:05pm
|
2.0
|
2,995
|
College football:
TCU-Oklahoma |
11/11
|
Fox
|
8:11-11:41pm
|
1.8
|
2,960
|
| "The NFL Today" |
11/12
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
1.9
|
2,762
|
| NBA: Lakers-Celtics |
11/8
|
ESPN
|
8:01-10:31pm
|
1.7
|
2,698
|
College football:
Florida-South Carolina |
11/11
|
CBS
|
12:00-3:45pm
|
1.5
|
2,391
|
| NBA: T'Wolves-Warriors |
11/8
|
ESPN
|
10:31pm-12:51pm
|
n/a
|
2,166
|
| "College GameDay" |
11/11
|
ESPN
|
9:00am-12:01pm
|
n/a
|
2,108
|
| College football: Arkansas-LSU |
11/11
|
ESPN
|
12:01-3:08pm
|
1.2
|
2,032
|
| NBA: Cavaliers-Rockets |
11/9
|
TNT
|
8:14-10:44pm
|
n/a
|
1,958
|
College football:
Florida State-Clemson |
11/11
|
ESPN
|
3:28-6:56pm
|
1.1
|
1,872
|
| "Monday Night Countdown" |
11/6
|
ESPN
|
6:00-8:15pm
|
n/a
|
1,844
|
"30 for 30":
"Nature Boy" (premiere) |
11/7
|
ESPN
|
10:00-11:30pm
|
n/a
|
1,831
|
| College football: USC-Colorado |
11/11
|
Fox
|
4:05-7:45
|
1.1
|
1,641
|
| "Courage in Sports" |
11/12
|
CBS
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
1.1
|
1,624
|
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
Ticket Galaxy 200 (Phoenix) |
11/11
|
NBC
|
3:58-6:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,534
|
| "Fox NFL Kickoff" |
11/12
|
Fox
|
11:00am-12:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,255
|
ISU Grand Prix of
Figure Skating (taped) |
11/11
|
NBC
|
1:30-3:30pm
|
0.5
|
669
|
| "World of X Games: Freesurfer" |
11/12
|
ABC
|
4:30-5:00pm
|
0.3
|
364
|
"World of X Games:
MasterCraft Throwdown" |
11/12
|
ABC
|
4:00-4:30pm
|
0.3
|
307
|
CHART NOTE: * = Featured Oklahoma State-Iowa State and N.C. State-Boston College.
