ESPN TV Networks’ 602 Games Averages More Than 500,000 Viewers
Louisville Most-Viewed Market
Season’s Top Three Telecasts
ESPN scored this season’s three largest audiences for a college basketball game on the network within a month.
- Then-No. 3 Indiana defeating No. 1 Michigan on February 2 is the most-viewed and highest-rated with an average of 4,035,000 viewers, a 2.9 coverage rating and 2,867,000 households.
- Then-No. 1 Indiana beating No. 4 Michigan State on February 19 is the second-largest audience of the season with an average of 3,733,000 viewers, a 2.7 coverage rating and 2,677,000 households.
- Then-No. 3 Duke defeating No. 5 Miami 79-76 on March 2 averaged 3,416,000 viewers, a 2.5 coverage rating and 2,459,000 households, making it the network’s third most-viewed and third highest-rated men’s college basketball game this season.
ESPN, ESPN2 & ESPNU’s 602 Games Average More Than 500,000 Viewers
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU’s 602 games for the 2012-13 season – the most extensive coverage on television and more than every network combined – averaged 508,000 total viewers.
Louisville Takes Top Spot… Again
For the 11th consecutive year, Louisville was the highest-rated metered market for ESPN’s regular-season telecasts, averaging a 4.5 rating. Greensboro finished in second place for the second straight year with a 3.1 rating. In addition:
- All 10 of last season’s top 10 metered markets finished the 2012-13 season among the top 10 again.
- Louisville, Greensboro, Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte remain the only markets to be among the top 10 every year since 2002-03. Additional markets in this season’s top 10 also finished among the top 10 in multiple years:
- Knoxville, ninth this season, has finished in the top 10 every year since 2003-04.
- Kansas City, the fifth highest rated market in 2012-13, was a top 10 market every season except 2008-09 and 2004-05.
- Indianapolis, fourth this season, was a top market in eight of the past 11 years (except 2010-11, 2004-05 and 2003-04)
- Three markets were in the top 10 for basketball and college football in the most recent seasons: Columbus, tied at sixth in basketball was tied for fifth in football; Knoxville, tied for 10th in basketball was third in football; and Nashville, tied for 10th in basketball was ninth in football.
- Eleven markets have been in the top five at least once from 2002-03 to 2012-13: Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Greensboro, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Knoxville, Louisville, Memphis, Oklahoma City and Raleigh-Durham.
- Louisville is the only market to go 11 for 11.
- Greensboro finished as a top-five market every season but when it was sixth in 2004-05.
- Indianapolis jumped from seventh in 2011-12 to fourth, finishing with a 2.9 rating for a 61 percent increase over last year’s 1.8 rating.
- Kansas City, which finished in the top three the past three years after not finishing in the top five the previous seven seasons, dropped to fifth.
- Columbus was in the top five the last four seasons straight but finished sixth in 2012-13.
| Top 25 Markets for 2012-13 | Top 25 Markets for 2011-12 |
| No. 1 Louisville: 4.5 rating | No. 1 Louisville: 4.5 rating |
| No. 2 Greensboro: 3.1 rating | No. 2 Greensboro: 3.5 rating |
| No. 3 Raleigh-Durham: 3.0 rating | No. 3 Kansas City: 2.8 rating |
| No. 4 Indianapolis: 2.9 rating | No. 4 Columbus: 2.7 rating |
| No. 5 Kansas City: 2.7 rating | Raleigh-Durham 2.7 rating |
| No. 6 Cincinnati: 2.1 rating | No. 6 Charlotte: 2.3 rating |
| Columbus: 2.1 rating | No. 7 Cincinnati: 2.1 rating |
| No. 8 Dayton: 2.0 rating | No. 8 Dayton: 2.0 rating |
| No. 9 Charlotte: 1.8 rating | No. 9 Indianapolis: 1.8 rating |
| No. 10 Knoxville: 1.7 rating | Knoxville: 1.8 rating |
| Nashville: 1.7 rating | No. 11 Memphis: 1.6 rating |
| No. 12 Detroit: 1.6 rating | Nashville: 1.6 rating |
| No. 13 Birmingham: 1.5 rating | No. 13 Greenville: 1.5 rating |
| No. 14 Memphis: 1.3 rating | No. 14 Cleveland: 1.4 rating |
| Hartford & New Haven: 1.3 rating | Birmingham: 1.4 rating |
| Greenville: 1.3 rating | Las Vegas: 1.4 rating |
| Cleveland: 1.3 rating | No. 17 Norfolk: 1.2 rating |
| Norfolk: 1.3 rating | Hartford and New Haven: 1.2 rating |
| St. Louis: 1.3 rating | St. Louis: 1.2 rating |
| No. 20 Richmond: 1.2 rating | No. 20 Fort Myers: 1.1 rating |
| Las Vegas: 1.2 rating | Atlanta: 1.1 rating |
| No. 22 Fort Myers: 1.1 rating | Richmond: 1.1 rating |
| Milwaukee: 1.1 rating | No. 23 Pittsburgh: 1.0 rating |
| No. 24 Baltimore: 1.0 rating | Detroit: 1.0 rating |
| Tulsa: 1.0 rating | Oklahoma City: 1.0 rating |
| Atlanta: 1.0 rating | Jacksonville: 1.0 rating |
| Oklahoma City: 1.0 rating | Tulsa: 1.0 rating |
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