It was a strong season for the Duke-North Carolina rivalry. Both hoops games drew over 4 million viewers for the first time since '15. Saturday’s second game in the series finished with 4.2 million viewers on ESPN, and that was without Duke's Zion Williamson playing. With the ACC Tournament going on this week, ESPN has the potential for a third Duke-UNC tilt in the semifinals on Friday. The Duke games this season also helped propel ESPN to a gain for college basketball this season. Watch for those numbers later this week.
|
MOST-VIEWED UNC-DUKE HOOPS GAMES OVER LAST DECADE
|
|
DATE
|
NETWORK
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
Saturday, March 5, 2011
|
CBS
|
4,611
|
|
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
|
ESPN
|
4,343
|
|
Saturday, March 3, 2012
|
ESPN
|
4,247
|
|
Saturday, March 7, 2015
|
ESPN
|
4,241
|
|
Saturday, March 9, 2019
|
ESPN
|
4,162
|
HALFTIME REPORT: The AAFsaw its least-viewed games over the weekend, dipping below 400,000 viewers for the first time on NFL Network. Saturday night’s Salt Lake Stallions-San Diego Fleet matchup drew 379,000 viewers, while Sunday night’s San Antonio Commanders-Arizona Hotshots game drew 300,000. The previous AAF low was 409,000 viewers on March 2. TNT also had its second game on Saturday afternoon, but without the presence of NBA All-Star weekend, the game did not draw as strong an audience. Back on Feb. 16, as a lead-in to NBA All-Star Saturday events, an AAF game drew just over 1 million viewers. But on Saturday, a game featuring the Steve Spurrier-coached Orlando Apollos drew just 457,000 viewers. For 12 games across CBS, TNT and NFL Network through Week 5 of a 10-week season, the AAF is averaging 749,000 viewers.
BRIGHT RED: NBC on Saturday drew 1.28 million viewers for Manchester United-Arsenal, marking the second-best EPL match in U.S. history. The game drew another 65,000 streaming viewers on NBC Digital. The top EPL match remains NBC’s ManU-Manchester City match last April, which drew 1.35 million viewers
NOTES: The NTT IndyCar Series began Sunday on NBCSN, with the afternoon race from St. Petersburg drawing 495,000 viewers. There were another 7,000 viewers streaming the race. Last season, the series began on ABC, drawing 1.1 million viewers. Back in ’13, the series began on NBCSN from St. Pete, drawing 388,000 viewers....CBS on Sunday afternoon drew 1.28 million viewers for Bradley’s upset win over Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Championship. That is down from 1.36 million last year for Wichita State-Illinois State.
The chart below lists final viewership figures for select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
TicketGuardian 500 (Phoenix) |
3/10
|
Fox
|
3:45-7:00pm
|
2.9
|
4,794
|
| College basketball: Duke-North Carolina |
3/9
|
ESPN
|
6:06-8:13pm
|
2.5
|
4,162
|
| PGA Tour: Arnold Palmer Invitational: Final Round |
3/10
|
NBC
|
2:34-6:00pm
|
2.0
|
3,068
|
| NBA: Celtics-Lakers |
3/9
|
ABC
|
8:30-10:54pm
|
1.9
|
3,066
|
| College basketball: Michigan-Michigan State |
3/9
|
ESPN
|
8:13-10:17pm
|
1.7
|
2,849
|
| PGA Tour: Arnold Palmer Invitational: Third Round |
3/9
|
NBC
|
2:30-6:00pm
|
1.4
|
2,194
|
| College basketball: Florida-Kentucky |
3/9
|
CBS
|
2:12-4:21pm
|
1.3
|
2,087
|
| NBA: Celtics-Warriors |
3/5
|
TNT
|
10:39pm-1:05am
|
1.3
|
2,053
|
| "NBA Countdown" |
3/9
|
ABC
|
8:00-8:30pm
|
1.3
|
2,033
|
| NBA: Nuggets-Warriors |
3/8
|
ESPN
|
10:35pm-1:06am
|
1.3
|
2,000
|
| NBA: Pacers-76ers |
3/10
|
ABC
|
3:30-6:15pm
|
1.3
|
1,883
|
| College basketball: Wisconsin-Ohio State |
3/10
|
CBS
|
4:30-6:45pm
|
1.2
|
1,815
|
| NBA: Nuggets-Lakers |
3/6
|
ESPN
|
10:43pm-12:58am
|
1.2
|
1,739
|
Premier Boxing Champions:
Shawn Porter d. Yordenis Ugas |
3/9
|
Fox
|
8:00-11:00pm
|
1.1
|
1,628
|
| NBA: 76ers-Rockets |
3/8
|
ESPN
|
8:15-10:35pm
|
1.0
|
1,533
|
| NBA: Thunder-Trail Blazers |
3/7
|
TNT
|
10:39pm-1:38am
|
1.0
|
1,523
|
| College basketball: Louisville-Virginia |
3/9
|
ESPN
|
4:18-6:06pm
|
1.0
|
1,496
|
| NBA: 76ers-Bulls |
3/6
|
ESPN
|
8:13-10:43pm
|
0.9
|
1,431
|
| NBA: Rockets-Raptors |
3/5
|
TNT
|
8:14-10:39pm
|
0.9
|
1,378
|
| College basketball: Houston-Cincinnati |
3/10
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:23pm
|
0.9
|
1,295
|
| EPL: Manchester United-Arsenal |
3/10
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:34pm
|
0.8
|
1,279
|
| College basketball: Arizona State-Arizona |
3/9
|
CBS
|
4:21-6:30pm
|
0.9
|
1,276
|
College basketball: Missouri Valley
Championship: Bradley-Northern Iowa |
3/10
|
CBS
|
2:23-4:30pm
|
0.8
|
1,275
|
| College basketball: Syracuse-Clemson |
3/9
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:12pm
|
0.8
|
1,203
|
| Liga MX: Chivas-Queretaro |
3/9
|
Univision
|
10:01pm-12:00am
|
0.5
|
928
|
| EPL: Watford-Manchester City |
3/9
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.5
|
818
|
| College basketball: Georgetown-Marquette |
3/9
|
Fox
|
2:34-5:08pm
|
0.5
|
751
|
| Liga MX: Puebla-Club America |
3/9
|
Univision
|
7:55-10:01pm
|
0.5
|
741
|
| College basketball: Villanova-Seton Hall |
3/9
|
Fox
|
12:04-2:34pm
|
0.5
|
680
|
| College basketball: St. John's-Xavier |
3/9
|
Fox
|
5:08-7:00pm
|
0.4
|
670
|
