FOX Sports Nets Most-Watched College Basketball Season Ever

Overall Viewership Up +27% on FOX and FS1

FOX Sports GO Sees +88% Increase

NEW YORK, NY – FOX Sports enjoyed its most-watched season of college basketball during the 2017-18 season, with a huge combined year-over-year increase on the FOX broadcast network and FS1. Men’s basketball games on FOX and FS1 averaged 262,000 viewers per game during the entire 2017-18 season, a +27% jump over the 2016-17 average (vs. 206,000), according to Nielsen Media Research.

“We are very pleased to see that fans are watching and enjoying college basketball on FOX and FS1 more than ever,” said Derek Crocker, FOX Sports Senior Director, Collegiate Sports. “As we wrap up an exciting season covering the BIG EAST, Pac-12 and, for the first time, Big Ten, we thank our conference partners for allowing us the opportunity to tell the stories of their exceptional teams, coaches and student-athletes.”

FOX College Hoops set records during conference championship week, as the 2018 BIG EAST Tournament was the network’s most-watched conference tournament in history. The event averaged 379,000 viewers over nine games on FOX and FS1, including 1,491,000 for Villanova’s overtime championship victory against Providence, which stands as the BIG EAST’s most-watched championship game on FOX and the fourth most-watched college basketball game ever on the network. The Pac-12 Tournament Championship Game between Arizona and USC drew 612,000 viewers on FS1, the third most-watched college basketball game ever on the channel, and an average minute audience of 11,040 on FOX Sports GO, making it the platform’s third biggest college basketball event.

Overall, nine of the top 15 college basketball broadcasts on FOX and seven of the top 15 college basketball telecasts on FS1 occurred during the 2017-18 season. The in-state Big Ten clash between Michigan and Michigan State on Saturday, Jan. 13 attracted an audience of 1,613,000 on FOX broadcast network, the channel’s most-watched college basketball game this season and its third most-watched college basketball game ever.

FOX Sports GO also saw massive year-over-year increases, with an average minute audience per game increase of +88% over 2016-17. Viewers consumed 77 million minutes of college basketball on FOX Sports GO and FOX Now this season, up +134% year-over-year. Each of the platform’s 10 biggest college basketball events took place this season, led by a pair of Big Ten in-state rivalries. Michigan at Michigan State (Jan. 13) drew an average minute audience of 16,192, while Purdue at Indiana (Jan. 28), attracted an average minute audience of 15,541.