The first meeting between North Carolina and Duke in the post-Coach K era delivered in the ratings with a four-year high.
Saturday’s North Carolina-Duke men’s college basketball game averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.86 million viewers on ESPN, marking the highest rating and viewership for the rivals’ first meeting of the season since Zion Williamson’s lone season at Duke in 2019 (2.7, 4.34M). Ratings jumped 17% and viewership 31% from last year (1.2, 2.19M).
Overall, the Blue Devils’ win delivered the second-largest regular season audience for the rivalry since that same 2019 season. Only their final meeting last season — Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game — averaged a larger audience (1.95, 3.98M). (Keep in mind that two games in that span (in the 2019-20 season) aired prior to the addition of out-of-home viewing in Nielsen estimates.)
It also ranks second for the current season behind only DePaul-Creighton on FOX Christmas Day (1.4, 2.99M), making it the only ACC game in the top ten (shown below).
Most-watched college basketball games, 2022-23 season (as of February 5)
Head-to-head, Carolina-Duke easily outdrew the competing Lakers-Pelicans NBA game on ESPN2, added to the schedule as LeBron James grows closer to setting the all-time NBA scoring record (0.65, 1.27M). It also outdrew Saturday’s primetime Mavericks-Warriors game on ABC (1.3, 2.36M).
The Purdue-Indiana lead-in averaged a 1.1 and 2.03 million viewers, up sharply from Baylor-Kansas last year (0.7, 1.17M) and tied with Kentucky-Michigan State in November’s Champions Classic as the fourth-largest audience of the season. The Florida-Kentucky lead-out averaged a 0.9 and 1.72 million, down a tick in ratings but up slightly in viewership from Kentucky-Alabama last year (1.0, 1.69M) and the tenth-largest audience of the season.
In other college basketball action, Sunday’s South Carolina-UConn women’s game averaged a 0.6 and 1.09 million on FOX — marking the first time in five years that a women’s basketball game has topped the million viewer mark outside of the NCAA Tournament or Olympics. No WNBA game has reached that mark since Candace Parker’s career debut in 2008.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 2.7)
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