ESPN delivered its most-watched men’s college basketball regular season in more than a decade, continuing a broader trend of rising interest in the sport as premier matchups, rivalry games and signature programming fueled substantial audience growth across its television portfolio during the 2025-26 campaign.
Across ESPN platforms, viewership increased 25% compared to the previous season. It marked the network’s strongest regular-season performance since the 2014–15 college basketball season.
The results reflect a schedule built around high-profile matchups, established properties such as Big Monday and early-season events that consistently draw national attention.
Games carried on ESPN averaged 1.1 million viewers across 127 telecasts this season. That figure represents a 12% increase year over year. It is also the network’s most-watched regular-season slate since the 2018–19 season.
Meanwhile, ABC aired five men’s college basketball broadcasts that averaged 1.7 million viewers, delivering a 29% year-over-year jump and the broadcast network’s strongest performance in the sport since the 2006-07 season.
ESPN networks also commanded a substantial share of the sport’s overall television consumption. Across all nationally rated linear networks, ESPN platforms accounted for half of the total minutes viewed during live men’s college basketball games.
In total, audiences spent approximately 26 billion minutes watching games carried across ESPN’s networks.
Several of the season’s most prominent matchups aired on ESPN. The network carried five of the 10 most-watched games across all television outlets and accounted for 11 of the 20 largest audiences during the regular season. Six games on ESPN surpassed two million viewers, while 28 of the 45 games across all networks to draw more than 1.5 million viewers appeared on the network’s schedule.
The most-watched game on ESPN this season occurred February 21. Then-No. 1 Michigan faced then-No. 3 Duke at a neutral site. The matchup averaged 4.3 million viewers. That audience was ESPN’s largest regular-season men’s college basketball telecast in seven years. It also ranks as the seventh most-watched regular-season game in network history.
One of the network’s longest-running franchises delivered particularly strong results. Big Monday, which has served as a cornerstone of ESPN’s college basketball coverage since its debut in 1987, recorded the most-watched season in the history of the series.
The 12-game schedule averaged 1.6 million viewers, an increase of 78% compared to last season and a 59% gain compared to two seasons ago. The slate featured the nine most-watched Monday night men’s college basketball games on any network since the 2018-19 season. The most-watched game of the package came Feb. 23, when Houston faced Kansas in a matchup that averaged two million viewers.
Early-season showcase events also contributed to the strong overall numbers. The Champions Classic averaged 1.7 million viewers, a 5% increase year over year. The Jimmy V Classic drew 1.1 million viewers, a 36% increase compared to last season. The ACC/SEC Challenge improved 25% year-over-year, highlighted by Duke’s matchup with Florida that attracted 1.7 million viewers.
ESPN’s College GameDay also experienced audience growth during the regular season. The seven on-site shows increased viewership 12% year-over-year and produced the program’s most-watched season since 2019-20. The most-watched broadcast originated from Allen Fieldhouse ahead of the Jan. 31 matchup between BYU and Kansas.
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