ESPN Scores Most-Watched Men's College Basketball Season

Net averaged 1.37M viewers over 135 games, surpassing last year's mark

By Tim Baysinger -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/15/2013 4:33:14 PM

ESPN's coverage of the 2012-13 NCAA men's basketball regular season averaged 1.37 million viewers over 135 games, making it the net's most-watched ever.

That surpassed the previous record, set by last year's season with 1.35 million over 130 games. ESPN also matched last year's average of a 1.1 coverage rating.

Individually, the most-watched game was the Feb. 2 tilt between Indiana and Michigan, which drew 4.04 million viewers. It was also the highest-rated with a 2.9 coverage rating. The Feb. 19 matchup between Indiana and Michigan State was the second-most watched game with 3.73 million viewers, followed by Duke-Miami on March 2 with 2.46 million viewers.

For the 11th straight year, Louisville was the highest-rated metered market for ESPN's regular-season telecasts, averaging a 4.5 rating. Greensboro (N.C.) finished in second place for the second straight year with a 3.1 rating.

ESPN's TV networks -- which include ESPN2 and ESPNU -- combined to telecast 602 games, which averaged 508,000 viewers.