- Duke-North Carolina and Florida State-Duke Most Viewed Champ Week Games on ESPN
- Tennessee-Kentucky Ranks as Most-Viewed SEC Semifinal
- Conference Tournament Play Up 10 Percent Across ESPN and ESPN2
This year’s New York Life ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament set new records for ESPN, as the Duke-North Carolina semifinal and the Duke-Florida State championship game are now the most-viewed Champ Week games in ESPN history.
The season’s third meeting between Duke and North Carolina averaged 4,150,000 viewers, which in addition to setting a new viewership record for ESPN, was the most-viewed Champ Week game across networks this season. The previous record for most-viewed game was the 1998 ACC championship game, which averaged 4,011,000 viewers. The championship game between Florida State-Duke matchup averaged 4,063,000 viewers, the second most-viewed Champ Week game in ESPN history, and second most-watched Champ Week game of the season across all networks. .
The second semifinal, which saw Florida State facing Virginia, averaged 1,618,000 viewers, up 76 percent in comparison to last year’s game on ESPN2.
The three games averaged 3,288,000 viewers, up 17 percent from 2017, when all three matchups were played on ESPN.
Additional highlights
- Tennessee’s win over Kentucky averaged 3,285,000 viewers, the most-viewed SEC semifinal on ESPN ever, and up 78% from last year’s second SEC semifinal game
- Women’s games during Champ Week averaged 171,000 viewers, up five percent year-over-year
Across ESPN and ESPN2, Champ Week averaged 883,000 viewers, up 10 percent year over year. It also ranks as the fourth largest audience for Champ Week since 1998. ESPN aired seven of the top ten games during Champ Week.
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