Saturday Final Nationals: College Basketball Matchup of Kansas-Kentucky on ESPN Outdraws NBA Clippers-Warriors on ABC

NBC led Saturday prime time in total viewers (4.34 million) and adults 25-54 (1.1 rating/4 share). ABC won with adults 18-49 (0.9/4) and adults 18-34 (0.8/5).

Kansas’ 79-73 victory at Kentucky in the early evening on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge earned a 1.98 national rating, making it the highest rated college basketball game of the season on ESPN. The game was also the most-watched men’s college basketball game this season on an ESPN network, earning a total live audience (TV + streaming) of 3,426,000 viewers, up 13 percent over last year’s overtime contest (3,042,000 viewers).

It also ranked as the highest rated, most-watched game in the four-year history of the challenge series.

In TV-only viewers, ESPN’s Kansas-Kentucky (3.348 million viewers) even outdrew ABC’s “NBA Saturday Primetime” game: a Golden State Warriors’ 144-98 blowout win over the Los Angeles Clippers (3.259 million viewers) — although both events did not air directly opposite each other.

Louisville and Kansas City were the game’s top rated markets, averaging a 15.6 rating in Louisville and a 12.3 rating in Kansas City.

The year-ago game between college basketball’s winningest programs, won by the Jayhawks in overtime in Lawrence, drew a 1.8 nationally and 10.1 in Kansas City.

This year’s matchup was the highest rated game in the Kansas City market on ESPN since last year’s Kansas-Oklahoma game in Lawrence, which drew a 16.8.

The top markets behind Louisville and Kansas City were Cincinnati (8.6), Nashville (6.4) and Knoxville (6.1).

(Sources: ESPN [1], [2])

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* AFF = Number of affiliates (stations) airing the program
* CVG = percent of coverage in U.S.
	Saturday, January 28, 2017
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			1.9/4	3041	0.8/5	0.9/4	1.0/3
8:00	NBA Countdown (s)	232	93	1.2/2	1907	0.3/2	0.4/2	0.5/2
8:29	NBA Saturday Primetime L.A. Clippers @ Golden State (thru 11:00)	246	93	2.0/4	3259	0.9/5	1.0/4	1.1/4
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			2.5/5	3989	0.3/2	0.5/2	0.8/2
8:00	Ransom	254	94	2.0/4	3280	0.2/1	0.4/2	0.6/2
9:00	Crimetime Saturday NCIS (r)	254	94	2.3/4	3691	0.2/1	0.4/1	0.6/2
10:00	48 Hours	254	94	3.3/6	4996	0.5/2	0.7/3	1.1/4
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			2.8/5	4339	0.4/2	0.8/3	1.1/4
8:00	Dateline Mystery	247	93	3.2/6	4878	0.4/2	0.7/3	1.1/4
10:00	Saturday Night Live (r)	246	92	2.1/4	3261	0.4/2	0.8/3	1.0/3
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-10	Network Average			1.1/2	2189	0.4/3	0.6/3	0.8/3
8:00	UFC Fight Night Shevchenko vs. Peña (s) (thru 10:02)	255	93	1.3/2	2189	0.5/3	0.8/3	1.0/3
	PROGRAM			HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			0.9/2	1661		0.7/3
6:55	Crónicas de Sábado			0.9/2	1451		0.5/2
7:55	Fútbol Mexicano Tigres vs. América (s)			0.9/2	1720		0.7/3
10:00	Fútbol Mexicano Guadalajara vs. Tijuana (s) (thru 12:06 a.m.)			0.8/2	1550		0.7/3
	PROGRAM			HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			0.5/1	918		0.3/1
7:00	Cine Ni Sangre, ni Arena (1941)			0.4/1	830		0.3/1
9:00	Cine Ip Man (2008)			0.5/1	908		0.3/1
	PROGRAM			HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average (preliminary)			0.5/1	894	0.3/1	0.3/1
8:00	Cine The Tourist (2010) (preliminary)			0.5/1	931	0.3/1	0.3/1
8:30	Cine Riddick (2013) (preliminary)			0.5/1	858	0.3/1	0.3/1
9:00	Cine Riddick (2013) (preliminary)			0.5/1	895	0.3/1	0.3/1
10:00	Cine Riddick (2013) (preliminary)			0.5/1	894	0.3/1	0.4/1

Note: All of this date’s Telemundo data are based on preliminary figures.

Sub-Demo Breakdowns – Saturday 1/28/17

For the entire week of January 23-29, 2017 in Total Day (8 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.), Adult Swim is up +2 percent in viewership (0.887 million vs. 0.859 million) and up +2 percent among Adults 18-49 (535,000 vs. 527,000) from one week earlier; the network is also down -18 percent in total viewership (0.887 million vs. 1.076 million) and down -18 percent among Adults 18-49 (535,000 vs. 652,000) from the same week one year ago (January 25-31, 2016). (https://programmingins.wpengine.com/?p=14525)

	PROGRAM	HH	Viewers (000)	A18-49 rating	A1849 (000)
8:00	Dragon Ball Super	0.54	851	0.32	417
8:30	Samurai Jack (r)	0.39	601	0.24	313
9:00	American Dad (r)	0.51	765	0.33	426
9:30	Rick & Morty (r)	0.57	866	0.39	497
10:00	Rick & Morty (r)	0.66	979	0.43	554
10:30	Family Guy (r)	0.78	1191	0.53	685
11:00	Family Guy (r)		1423	0.6	808

TOONAMI – SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2017

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating	A1849 (000)
11:30	Dragon Ball Super	1158	0.5	702
12:00a	Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters	1038	0.5	634
12:30a	JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure	866	0.4	487
1:00a	Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn	797	0.4	457
1:30a	Hunter X Hunter	779	0.3	442
2:00a	Naruto: Shippuden	814	0.4	453
2:25a	Moon Duo: Cold Fear	647	0.3	375
2:30a	One Piece	627	0.3	376
3:00a	One Punch Man (r)	671	0.3	416

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating	A1849 (000)
3:30a	American Dad (r)	551	0.3	354
4:00a	Rick & Morty (r)	559	0.3	338
4:30a	Rick & Morty (r)	553	0.3	343
5:00a	King of the Hill (r)	580	0.3	357
5:30a	King of the Hill (r)	621	0.3	405

Cable Rankings – Saturday 1/28/17

What follows are the top 100 most-watched shows in prime time on cable (by order of network) for Saturday, January 28:

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research