Tuesday (1/9) sports viewership: SEC hoops tops night

SEC basketball delivered the largest sports audience of the night on Tuesday, January 9.

ESPN averaged 1.14 million viewers for a Missouri-Kentucky men’s college basketball game on Tuesday, the largest sports audience of the day and up 7% from Michigan State-Wisconsin in the same window last year (1.06M). The Duke-Pittsburgh lead-out averaged 717,000, down 22% from North Carolina-Virginia a year ago (915K).

In concurrent college basketball action on ESPN2, Houston-Iowa State averaged 448,000 and Texas A&M-Auburn 341,000 — down 25 and 41 percent respectively from a pair of higher-profile matchups last year (South Carolina-Kentucky: 598K; Oklahoma-Kansas: 574K). Overall, ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 661,000 for their dueling doubleheaders, down 15% from last year’s 781,000.

Shifting to pro basketball, NBA TV averaged 364,000 for a Grizzlies-Mavericks NBA regular season game — up 14% from Wizards-Bucks last year (320K).

There was little else of note on Tuesday. ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” averaged an unusually-high 957,000, its top audience since November 20, the day ESPN carried the Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl rematch (974K). The “Around the Horn” lead-in was similarly high at 648,000, also its best audience since November 20 (651K).

“The Pat McAfee Show,” featuring guest Aaron Rodgers for what turned out to be the final time this football season, averaged 422,000 — its fourth-largest audience since it began airing on ESPN in September. The four most-watched episodes have come just since Christmas.

Tuesday, January 9 sports viewership