More than four million pairs of eyes watched the UNC men’s basketball team take down No. 4 Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game with the Blue Devils. ESPN’s public relations Twitter account announced Tuesday its broadcast of the game was the most-watched college basketball broadcast on any network since March 9, 2019. According to the website Sports Media Watch, an average of 3.98 million people were tuned in, with a peak of 4.76 million between 8:15 and 8:30 p.m. as the Tar Heels pulled away.
Saturday's Sonic Blockbuster (North Carolina at Duke) delivered 3.98M viewers
The most-watched regular season men's college basketball game on any network since March 9, 2019#CoachK pic.twitter.com/TDnLwk9WU0
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) March 8, 2022
In addition, almost 3.5 million people watched Krzyzewski’s postgame speech to the Blue Devil crowd after the game.
It was the most-watched UNC-Duke game since the 2018-19 season, when more than four million viewers tuned in for each of the three meetings between Coby White and the Tar Heels and Zion Williamson and the Blue Devils. Saturday’s game almost doubled the viewership of this season’s first UNC-Duke matchup in Chapel Hill, which averaged 2.19 million viewers.
The game was the day’s most-watched broadcast of any kind for adults 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54. Notably, it outdrew that night’s NBA game between LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers and Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors. The game also outdrew that night’s episode of Saturday Night Live.
Saturday’s basketball game between Texas and Kansas, which was played on ESPN directly before UNC-Duke, drew an average of 1.91 million viewers, though that number could be skewed as those tuning in late may have been waiting for the Tar Heels and Blue Devils to start. The Texas-Kansas game went to overtime, forcing ESPN to broadcast a double-box between the Longhorns and Jayhawks and the pregame ceremony honoring Krzyzewski in Durham.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
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