ESPN averaged 3.4 million viewers for Duke’s win over North Carolina on March 4, marking the most-viewed college hoops game of the regular season on cable or broadcast TV. However, that figure is down 17% from the same second matchup of the season in ’17 (4.1 million viewers). The second Duke-UNC matchup in '16 averaged 3.2 million viewers, but that matchup started at 6:30pm ET vs. 8:00pm.
EVERYBODY WINS: MLB Network and YES Network have already set Spring Training viewership records with Yankees games in '18, and SNY also got in on the action this week. The RSN on Wednesday drew a 2.05 local rating in N.Y. for Mets-Yankees, marking the best Spring Training figure for any RSN in the N.Y. market since '09. It also was the best Spring Training audience ever on SNY.
The chart below lists viewership figures for select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
Pennzoil 400 (Las Vegas) |
3/4
|
Fox
|
3:49-6:45pm
|
2.9
|
4,732
|
| WGC-Mexico Championship: Final Round |
3/4
|
NBC
|
2:00-6:00pm
|
2.6
|
3,930
|
| College basketball: North Carolina-Duke |
3/3
|
ESPN
|
8:17-10:24pm
|
2.0
|
3,369
|
| NBA: Celtics-Rockets |
3/3
|
ABC
|
8:31-11:08pm
|
1.9
|
3,193
|
| Big Ten Championship: Michigan-Purdue |
3/4
|
CBS
|
4:31-6:45pm
|
2.0
|
3,181
|
Big Ten Semifinal:
Michigan-Michigan State |
3/3
|
CBS
|
2:00-4:30pm
|
1.7
|
2,672
|
| Liga MX: Chivas-Club America |
3/3
|
Univision
|
10:00pm-12:04am
|
1.1
|
2,485
|
| Big Ten Semifinal: Purdue-Penn State |
3/3
|
CBS
|
4:46-6:45pm
|
1.4
|
2,237
|
| WGC-Mexico Championship: Third Round |
3/3
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.4
|
2,109
|
| "NBA Countdown" |
3/3
|
ABC
|
8:00-8:31pm
|
1.3
|
2,028
|
| NBA: Warriors-Wizards |
2/28
|
ESPN
|
8:01-10:35pm
|
n/a
|
2,017
|
| NBA: 76ers-Cavaliers |
3/1
|
TNT
|
8:13-10:41pm
|
n/a
|
2,000
|
College basketball:
Cincinnati-Wichita State |
3/4
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
1.3
|
1,831
|
Missouri Valley Championship:
Loyola Chicago-Illinois State |
3/4
|
CBS
|
2:00-4:15pm
|
1.2
|
1,765
|
| College basketball: Kentucky-Florida |
3/3
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
1.1
|
1,695
|
| College basketball: Duke-Virginia Tech |
2/26
|
ESPN
|
7:00-9:07pm
|
n/a
|
1,361
|
| NBA: Rockets-Clippers |
2/28
|
ESPN
|
10:35pm-12:56am
|
n/a
|
1,350
|
| NBA: 76ers-Bucks |
3/4
|
ESPN
|
8:00-10:38pm
|
0.9
|
1,347
|
| Liga MX: Leon-Pumas UNAM |
3/3
|
Univision
|
8:00-10:00pm
|
0.6
|
1,284
|
| NBA: T'Wolves-Trail Blazers |
3/1
|
TNT
|
10:41pm-1:11am
|
n/a
|
1,283
|
| College basketball: Texas-Kansas |
2/26
|
ESPN
|
9:07-11:03pm
|
n/a
|
1,206
|
| College basketball: Louisville-N.C. State |
3/3
|
ESPN
|
6:04-8:07pm
|
0.7
|
1,148
|
| College basketball: UCLA-USC |
3/3
|
ESPN
|
10:24pm-12:23am
|
0.7
|
1,128
|
| NHL: Maple Leafs-Capitals (outdoors) |
3/3
|
NBC
|
8:12-11:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,107
|
| Gymnastics: AT&T American Cup |
3/3
|
NBC
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
0.7
|
982
|
| "E:60 -- Heir McNair" |
3/3
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.5
|
606
|
College basketball:
Georgetown-Villanova |
3/3
|
Fox
|
5:08-7:15pm
|
0.4
|
605
|
FIVB: Beach Volleyball
Major Series (Ft. Lauderdale) |
3/3
|
ABC
|
4:00-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
574
|
| College basketball: Xavier-DePaul |
3/3
|
Fox
|
12:00-2:15pm
|
0.4
|
484
|
| "World of X Games: Best of Aspen" |
3/3
|
ABC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
481
|
| College basketball: Creighton-Marquette |
3/3
|
Fox
|
2:38-4:45pm
|
0.3
|
431
|
