The ACC has been the star of the college basketball season on ESPN.
Saturday’s North Carolina/Duke men’s college basketball game earned 3.5 million viewers on ESPN, up 26% from last year (2.8M), but down 18% from 2012 (4.2M). The game ranks as the fourth-most viewed college basketball game of the season on ESPN, trailing only the two Duke/Syracuse games and Michigan State/Kentucky in December.
Entering championship week, six of the eight most-viewed college basketball games on ESPN this season involved at least one ACC team. Five of the top ten have been ACC conference match-ups.
The only non-ACC games in ESPN’s top ten were Michigan State/Kentucky, Michigan/Michigan State January 25 (3.0M) and Ohio State/Michigan State on January 7 (2.3M).
Most-Viewed College Basketball Games on ESPN This Season
(Thu. numbers from The Futon Critic)
Rock on SPARTY
At least for the Duke/UNC games, there were also local blackouts to contend with. A lot of people in North Carolina and surrounding areas had ESPN coverage blacked out on 2/20 in favor of the ACC Network. Elsewhere, viewership was split between ACC Network and ESPN – I know many Tar Heels in the Washington DC area watched ACC network to avoid Dick Vitale. I’m not sure if the same was true on 3/8. Does anyone know if these league-affiliate networks affected the numbers for other games?