UNC-Duke Most Watched CBB Game On ESPN Evar!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
ESPN's own record had just been set two weeks prior with Memphis-Tennessee, but it has now officially been broken. UNC-Duke on Saturday night was watched by an average of 3,830,000 households and aprroximately 5,612,328 total viewers according to ESPN.
The Saturday Primetime telecast featuring North Carolina and Duke broke the record set just two weeks prior (Feb.23) when Memphis and Tennessee, ranked #1 and #2 at the time, averaged 3,636,000 households and 5,281,000 viewers (3.8 rating).Again, that's a lot of people and if it wasn't for ESPN's lineup of game I don't think many people would watch the network anymore. They did an amazing job of scheduling games this year (minus seeing Syracuse play 20 times this season....I kid, I kid)
In addition, the telecast set several men’s college basketball marks when compared to games airing on any network, broadcast or cable:
* Amongst viewers (P2+), the game ranks as the most-viewed regular-season men’s college basketball game in more than a decade (previously, the most-viewed broadcast was Kansas vs. Kentucky, Jan. 9, 2005, on CBS – 5,483,000 viewers);
* The game is the highest-rated regular-season men’s college basketball telecast in the past 15 years (North Carolina vs. Duke, Feb. 3, 1993, on ESPN – 4.3 rating);
* Amongst households, the telecast ranks as the most-viewed regular-season men’s college basketball game since 2005 (Duke vs. North Carolina, March 5, 2005, on CBS – 3,977,000 households).
(Via ESPN PR)
8 Comments:
It's no wonder then that Dickie V had sweat through his shirt before the game even started. It was the nerves!
ESPN Playmakers thought this game was overhyped.
Seen, but not heard. Too bad they can't track the number of households turn the volume on their TVs off and the radio/XM/internet up when either UNC or Dook play. We at least don't have to listen to Packer or Vitale or the rest of the lot.
As the crowd in the old "Tom Slick" cartoons would say, "Yay."
You know what's really sad about this? Probably 50 percent of the audience consisted of the people who bitch non-stop about how ESPN overhypes Duke, and they were watching just to enjoy the loss. Oh, the irony, maybe one day those people will finally realize that THEY are the reason that Duke is on TV so much. I can say that because I'm one of those haters, but they didn't sucker me into watching Saturday night. And you know what? My Saturday night was very enjoyable without it!
haha, I echo the last guy. I turned it on for about 15 seconds and then turned it off. I love the main 3 sports and have always liked college basketball. I just have a hard time watching a regular season game anymore.
So over three million people got to experience the excruciatingly bad camera angles and got to hear two people talk about anything BUT what was going on in the game. Wonderful.
I think this should be credited to the great College Basketball coverage by ESPN this year. They have made their regular season as relevant and important to follow almost as College Football's season is which I never thought I would see.
This also proves that when you cover and hype something endlessly, people will tune in to watch it. Maybe the NHL should finally crawl back to ESPN and ask them to take them back.