2013-14 College Basketball TV Ratings

[RF1]

Interesting read by Sports Media Watch on college basketball tv ratings for the past year:

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2014/03 ... 14-season/


Excerpts of note:

FS1 and Fox Sports 2 combined to air the ten least-viewed games of the season, each of which earned fewer than 10,000 viewers. In a three-way tie for dead last were Monmouth/Seton Hall on November 18, Houston Baptist/DePaul on December 18, and VCU/Boston College on December 28, which each earned just 1,000 viewers on FS2. Nine of the ten least-viewed games involved a Big East team.

The A-10 Tournament Championship, Sunday 03-16-14, on CBS drew 1.537m viewers. The new Catholic Big East Tournament Championship, Saturday 03-15-14, on FS1 had 702,000.




Game by Game Ratings Links:

11/08/13-01/19/14
http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2014/03 ... -season/2/

01/20/14-03/16/14
http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2014/03 ... -season/3/

[Justns11]

1.537 million viewers. **

[rjsuperfly66]

College basketball ratings are largely based on network. Games on CBS will draw more than ESPN, games on ESPN will draw more than Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 1 will draw more than CBS Sports Network, CBS Sports Network will draw more than NBC Sports Network, etc. It's up to the network to put the conference in the best position to succeed. If the Big East Championship game was put on Fox, it would have drawn close or over 2 million people. Instead, it was lost on FS1. Of course appealing teams help with numbers, but it's not the end all. It's why college basketball will never drive a network, it just doesn't have that type of impact.

[RF1]

The day and time also factor into ratings. A Saturday evening telecast during prime-time hours would ordinarily far outdraw a Sunday afternoon telecast for the same event. There are far more viewers in the evening.

[RF1]

1.537 million viewers. **

Thanks. Fixed now.

[Rhodymob05]

That's crazy lol. What a difference

[bigappleram]

the difference is because 1 was on a major network (A10 - CBS) and the other was on a buried on the dial cable channel (BE - FS1). Thats the only reason.

[Iggy1979]

Who cares what the reason is: did you ever think that would happen?

[Rhodymob05]

the difference is because 1 was on a major network (A10 - CBS) and the other was on a buried on the dial cable channel (BE - FS1). Thats the only reason.

Is it?

[Rhody74]

To be fair, you'd have to compare the number of homes FS1 reaches vs. the number that CBS reaches .... FS1 is in 87 milliion homes; CBS probably is available to almost all of the country's 115 milliion homes.

[bigappleram]

the difference is because 1 was on a major network (A10 - CBS) and the other was on a buried on the dial cable channel (BE - FS1). Thats the only reason.

Is it?

Yes it is. As the poster above states, HH penetration for the 3 majors is 100%, not for cable. No cable show outranks a network show, quality has nothing to do with it.

[TruePoint]

To be fair, you'd have to compare the number of homes FS1 reaches vs. the number that CBS reaches .... FS1 is in 87 milliion homes; CBS probably is available to almost all of the country's 115 milliion homes.

It goes beyond that, though. Even if you only looked at households that got both channels, CBS is watched much more than FS1. Probably 95% of the people who ended up watching a basketball game by accident would have been watching the one on CBS. That doesn't take anything away from the A10. We earned the right to have our games on CBS, and it's a credit to the conference that it's tournament is broadcast nationally on network TV. We could be stuck in cable nowheresville like FS1.

[bressler3south]

The bottom line is the bottom line = $$$$$$$$$$$$ -- or -- $$$$$$$$$$$$. It appears that FOX SPORTS will be bleeding money for its investment in the NBE for some time to come.
I wonder what the 50 least watched games of the season were??? Then you'd really have some type of barometer!!!!!!!!!!!

[bressler3south]

College basketball ratings are largely based on network. Games on CBS will draw more than ESPN, games on ESPN will draw more than Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 1 will draw more than CBS Sports Network, CBS Sports Network will draw more than NBC Sports Network, etc. It's up to the network to put the conference in the best position to succeed. If the Big East Championship game was put on Fox, it would have drawn close or over 2 million people. Instead, it was lost on FS1. Of course appealing teams help with numbers, but it's not the end all. It's why college basketball will never drive a network, it just doesn't have that type of impact.

By the way, RJ, to some extent, I concur; however, if I want to watch a particular game and I have all of the networks available, I'll watch the one I want. Most of the time, as a college basketball fan, I'll watch ESPN more than CBS any day. Also, I did watch some NBE games, PC involved or not. The products, on the floor and network delivery, didn't captivate me, thus subsequently didn't compel me to return often. At best, the interest match-up-wise was sporadic. Even Doug McDermott or Bryce Cotton couldn't keep me glued to watching……It just wasn't there.
But a 1,000 viewers nationwide?????????????
"An Hour with Bob" reruns on Local Cable Access get more viewers than that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that probably costs $500 per hour to produce, not a payout of $4,000,000 per team a season!!!!!!

[RF1]

To be fair, you'd have to compare the number of homes FS1 reaches vs. the number that CBS reaches .... FS1 is in 87 milliion homes; CBS probably is available to almost all of the country's 115 milliion homes.

Keep also in mind that the FS1 Tournament Final was on a Saturday evening in PRIME-TIME. The A-10 Final was on an early Sunday afternoon time period when there are typically far less people watching tv.

[bigappleram]

Saturday prime time isn't what it used to be, and that is not exactly a good timeslot for sports. We were on the network that broadcast the Selection Show a few hours later. To be honest, we have a superior media placement for our Final game vs the BE, but don't fool yourself that is what is driving the discrepancy.