ACC Tournament Semifinal – Duke vs. North Carolina: ESPN’s Best Overnight for a Semifinal Champ Week Game on Record; ESPN’s Most-Streamed College Basketball Game Ever
Duke vs. North Carolina in the ACC Semifinal on ESPN (7 p.m. ET on March 10) delivered a 1.9 overnight rating, with a streaming average audience of 109,000 viewers and a total of 387,000 people streaming 16,500,000 minutes. The overnight is ESPN’s best for conference championship semifinal game on record and equals the famous UConn vs. Syracuse six-overtime epic eight years ago (March 12, 2009) as best non-championship game of Champ Week on record; the streaming audience broke ESPN college basketball records in all three metrics.
ACC Semifinals and Pac-12 Semifinal Overnight Increases
The Blue Devils-Tar Heels overnight was up 111% from last year’s first ACC semifinal game (Notre Dame vs. North Carolina), while the streaming audience grew 221%, 174%, and 284%, respectively, in average minute audience, unique viewers and total minutes watched.
- Notre Dame vs. Florida State in the second ACC Semifinal (9 p.m. on March 10) and Arizona vs. UCLA in the Pac-12 Semifinal (11 p.m. on March 10) each earned a 1.1 overnight, up 38% from the second ACC Semifinal last season (Miami vs. Virginia) and 10% from the late-night Pac 12 semifinal in 2015 (Utah vs. Oregon)** which both aired on ESPN.
- The Fighting Irish vs. Seminoles streaming audience was up 96%, 47% and 87%, respectively, in average minute audience, unique viewers and total minutes viewed from the Hurricanes-Cavaliers game last season, while the Wildcats-Bruins game was up 167%, 38%, and 164% in the same three categories to the Utes-Ducks game.
Duke vs. North Carolina Streams Record Audiences
Most impressively, the three matchups between the Blue Devils and Tar Heels this season are ESPN’s three most-streamed college basketball games ever.
ESPN’s Most-Streamed College Basketball Games Ever
| Rank | Average Minute Audience | Game | Date |
| 1. | 109,000 | ACC Semifinal: Duke vs. North Carolina | March 10, 2017 |
| 2. | 103,000 | Duke at North Carolina | March 4, 2017 |
| 103,000 | North Carolina at Duke | Feb 9, 2017 |
Based on Average Minute Audience
**ESPN did not air the second Pac-12 semifinal last season
Please note: Saturday’s conference final overnights are yet to be available; Overnights data for Champ Week goes back to 2005
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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; [email protected] and @DerekVolner
