North Carolina’s win against Duke delivered a Nielsen reported audience of 4,343,000 viewers, making it the most-viewed weeknight men’s college basketball game in ESPN history*, surpassing the previous record of 4,140,000 viewers, which was set by another UNC-Duke matchup on February 18, 2015.
The Rivalry Week matchup ranks as the fifth most-watched college basketball game in ESPN history, and is the most-watched college basketball game on ESPN since 2014 (Duke at Syracuse).
Season-to-date, men’s college basketball on ESPN is up 15 percent year over year. ESPN networks have aired the 82 most-viewed games on cable, including four of the top five across all networks.
*Note: includes regular season and postseason games
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