Both men’s and women’s college basketball are on a ratings hot streak, with networks reporting record viewership for the 2025–26 regular season.
CBS had the highest viewership, drawing an average of 1.42 million viewers on its 30 men’s basketball broadcasts. The total is up 10% from last season and is the most-watched regular season for the network in seven years. CBS’s Thanksgiving broadcast of Duke-Arkansas was the best-performing regular season college basketball game in 30 years, averaging 6.81 million viewers.
Fox tells Front Office Sports it recorded its most-watched men’s basketball regular season ever, surpassing 2022–23. Games on Fox averaged 1.21 million viewers, up 38% year-over-year. FS1 reported an average viewership of 234,000 (up 25%), which was also a record-high.
ESPN cited similar trends, with the regular season finishing as the network’s most-watched in 11 years. While specific numbers are yet to be released, ESPN did tell FOS that viewership was 25% higher than last season. The matchup between Duke and Michigan was the most-viewed game on the network with 4.32 million viewers.
Women’s basketball also saw increases in viewership across all networks. ESPN’s 89-game slate averaged 333,000 viewers (up 19%), making it the most-watched regular season for the sports network since 2008–09. The network also had a record 20 games with at least 500,000 viewers, with the Feb. 14 matchup between LSU and South Carolina drawing a season-high 1.7 million viewers.
The women’s regular season was the most-watched ever on FS1, averaging 148,000 viewers (up 22%). Fox’s average viewership of 700,000 ranks second for the network, trailing 2023–24 (Caitlin Clark’s senior season).
Sports ratings in general are up this year thanks to Nielsen’s transition to using Big Data + Panel, which better accounts for viewers across linear and streaming platforms. The boost to college basketball, however, is exceeding the expected 5% to 10% bump for the most part.
As of Feb. 25, Duke was the most-watched men’s college basketball team, according to Nielsen. The data does not include Duke’s final three games of the regular season, but it’s unlikely the Blue Devils were overtaken. Duke’s rematch with UNC on March 7 saw 3.4 million tune in and the team also played No. 10 Virginia on Feb. 28.
The 2025 men’s tournament saw the highest viewership for the first two rounds since 1993, with an average audience of 9.4 million, and had its most-viewed men’s championship game since 2019. Despite the increasing dominance of March Madness favorites and thus the potential for a chalkier bracket, the record regular season ratings are an indication that viewership for the tournament should continue to climb.
