FOX Sports says its college basketball coverage just wrapped one of the most successful regular seasons in the history of the network’s partnership with the sport, as new audience data shows substantial year-over-year growth across both its broadcast network and cable platform.
According to figures released by FOX Sports and compiled by Nielsen Media Research, the 2025–26 men’s college basketball regular season delivered the highest average audience the company has recorded on both FOX and FS1, continuing a multi-year momentum surge for the network’s college hoops package.
FOX’s broadcast window generated an average audience of roughly 1.216 million viewers per game during the regular season, which represented a 38 percent increase compared to last year and illustrated how the network’s strategy of showcasing marquee conference matchups in premium time slots continues to resonate with sports audiences navigating an increasingly fragmented television landscape.
Meanwhile, FS1’s men’s college basketball coverage averaged approximately 234,000 viewers per telecast across the season, reflecting a 25 percent year-over-year gain that further underscores the network’s ability to build consistent viewing habits for games outside of the major broadcast windows.
Taken together, the numbers represent the most-watched men’s college basketball regular season FOX has delivered across its television portfolio since the company entered the space. A milestone that comes as the broader sports media industry continues to evaluate how live programming remains one of the few reliable drivers of large-scale real-time audiences.
While the men’s game posted the largest gains, FOX executives also pointed to continued audience stability and growth for women’s college basketball, which has emerged as one of the fastest-rising properties across the sports television landscape over the past several years.
FOX reported that women’s games airing on the broadcast network averaged about 700,000 viewers during the 2025–26 regular season, marking a four percent improvement compared to last year while still ranking as the second-highest regular-season average the network has ever recorded for the sport.
On FS1, women’s college basketball generated an average audience of approximately 148,000 viewers, which represented a 22 percent increase year-over-year and set a new regular-season record for the cable channel’s coverage of the sport.
For FOX, the ratings momentum also validates the company’s long-term strategy of investing heavily in college athletics, particularly through its partnerships with conferences such as the Big Ten and Big East that provide a steady stream of nationally relevant matchups throughout the winter calendar.
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