College basketball capitalizes on Thanksgiving, draws historic TV ratings

With NFL games anchoring the Thanksgiving sports slate, FOX and CBS looked to capitalize with college basketball following those matchups. It paid off.

Duke’s win over Arkansas averaged 6.8 million viewers on CBS, becoming the most-watched college basketball game on any network in more than 30 years, the network announced. The previous high mark was in 1993 when Purdue vs. Indiana averaged 7.23 million viewers on CBS.

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Additionally, FOX benefited from the Thanksgiving schedule. Michigan State’s victory over North Carolina averaged 6.499 million viewers to become the network’s most-watched college basketball game on record. It also peaked at 14.4 million viewers, FOX announced.

The NFL was king once again on Thanksgiving, drawing historic viewership throughout the day. It started with the Green Bay Packers’ victory over the Detroit Lions, which averaged 47.7 million viewers to become the most-watched early game on the holiday.

Then, CBS was the biggest winner. The Dallas Cowboys’ victory over the Kansas City Chiefs shattered the record for most-watched NFL regular season game on record, averaging a monster 57.2 million viewers. That’s over 15 million more than the previous record, set in 2022.

College basketball has been putting more marquee college basketball games on Thanksgiving, and the NFL lead-in is a way to increase the amount of viewers tuning in for those matchups. Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel also helped increase those figures, but the 100% out-of-home measurement was another factor, according to Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel.

Duke vs. Arkansas and North Carolina vs. Michigan State are now the two most-watched college basketball games of the season so far. Duke’s win over Kansas previously held the top spot, averaging 1.87 million viewers in the Champions Classic last month.

How Duke, MSU got Thanksgiving wins

All told, five games on Thanksgiving featured at least one Top-25 team. Michigan State vs. North Carolina was first in the Fort Myers Tip-Off, and it was all Spartans in the 74-58 victory. Four players averaged double figures for Michigan State in that game, led by 19 points from Jeremy Fears Jr.

MSU did most of its damage from inside the three-point line in the game, shooting 52% from the field while taking 10 shots from outside. Additionally, the Spartans played strong defense, holding North Carolina to 38% from the floor and just 4-of-23 from three-point territory.

In the primetime window, Duke and Arkansas went back-and-forth before the Blue Devils came away with the 80-71 victory to stay undefeated. Cameron Boozer led the charge with a huge day, dropping 35 points and pulling down nine rebounds on the big stage.

Duke took a lead into halftime before Arkansas jumped out in front early after the break. But a late run helped the Blue Devils re-take the lead with 5:20 to play and they never looked back en route to their ninth win of the year.