More random college basketball statistics for those interested. Sports Media Watch is tracking sports TV ratings quite well this year, and given how much this is driving conference expansion, I have enjoyed keeping track. So, I wanted to post below the Big Ten basketball games so far that have had at least 500k viewers. Two notes/observations to keep in mind:
1. While postseason college hoops draw huge audiences (e.g., our BTT title game vs. OSU in 2021 topped out over 6 million viewers, and NCAAT games draw audiences comparable with college football), regular season ratings - especially while football is still on - are quite a bit lower. In general, I think a rating above 500k is quite good, and anything over 1 million is a pretty big audience.
2. As with football, the channel determines quite a lot. You just simply are not going to get the rating on BTN or FS1 that you are on CBS or FOX. On this note, the absence of ESPN for any Big Ten basketball games this year seems to be hurting the exposure for conference teams more on the hoops side of things than it has for football.
2023-24 Big Ten Games With 500,000 or More Viewers
5.18 million for #21 Michigan State vs. #3 Arizona (FOX)
1.59 million for #4 Marquette vs. #2 Purdue (ESPN)
1.51 million for #9 Duke vs. #18 Michigan State (ESPN)
1.46 million for #20 Illinois at #17 Tennessee (CBS)
1.46 million for #2 Kansas at Indiana (CBS)
1.39 million for #7 Tennessee vs. #2 Purdue (ESPN)
1.21 million for Ohio State vs. UCLA (CBS)
1.06 million for Alabama vs. #4 Purdue (FOX)
904k for #9 Illinois at #1 Purdue (FS1)
870k for Michigan vs. Florida (ESPN)
768k for #11 FAU vs. #20 Illinois (ESPN)
755k for West Virginia vs. Ohio State (FOX)
697k for #3 Marquette at Wisconsin (FOX)
690k for Ohio State at Indiana (FOX)
681k for #23 Wisconsin at #1 Arizona (ESPN)
623k for #11 Gonzaga vs. #2 Purdue (ESPN2)
616k for #6 Baylor vs. Michigan State (FOX)
571k for Michigan State at #10 Illinois (FS1)
514k for Maryland at #10 Illinois (BTN)
500k for Indiana vs. #5 UConn (ESPN)
Zero games with more than 500k viewers for Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State and Rutgers. Two positive spins for the Illini:
1. VERY impressive for a Tennessee/Illinois game to (barely) outdraw a Kansas/Indiana game in the exact same CBS time slot a week apart. IU is truly a legend only in their own fans' minds, and ZERO Illini fans should help indulge the stale idea that IU has any sort of "brand" that exceeds Illinois or any other Big Ten program.
2. Only 3 games on BTN or FS1 have drawn over 500k viewers, and the Illini have played in all three. The nearly 1 million viewers for Illini/Purdue on FS1 of all channels is especially impressive.
VERY incomplete data, but this is the average number of viewers per Big Ten team so far, excluding unavailable data for channels like Peacock or B1G+.
Michigan State: 730k (359k without the massive rating vs. Arizona, FWIW)
Purdue: 583k
Illinois: 524k
Ohio State: 387k
Indiana: 382k
Wisconsin: 311k
Michigan: 305k
Nebraska: 278k
Iowa: 275k
Rutgers: 216k
Northwestern: 214k
Penn State: 209k
Maryland: 207k
Minnesota: 188k