Who had more viewership than the Michigan men’s basketball team this season? Nobody.
The Wolverines were the most-watched team in college basketball for the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign, according to Nielsen.
Nielsen released data for the top five men’s college basketball teams and Michigan led the list with an average of 3.353 million viewers, ahead of Duke (2.965 million), UConn (2.842 million), Purdue (2.554 million) and Illinois (2.377 million).
The rankings were based on linear TV viewership from Nov. 1 to April 6 and included the NCAA Tournament, which Michigan won to capture its second national title in program history. TV networks included were ABC, CBS, CNBC, CW, ESPN, ESPN2, FOX, FS1, FS2, ION, NBC, truTV, TNT and USA.
The biggest draw was Michigan’s 69-63 win over UConn in the national championship game, which averaged 18.3 million viewers and was the most-watched NCAA Tournament final since 2019. The game was broadcast on TBS, TNT, truTV and HBO Max and peaked at 20.4 million viewers.
Michigan’s Final Four triumph over Arizona also garnered plenty of eyeballs, with 14.2 million viewers. The Fab Five alternate broadcast that featured Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson live inside Lucas Oil Stadium during the national semifinal was the most-watched alt-cast on TNT in eight years.
A Big Ten team led the way on the women’s side, as well, with UCLA averaging 1.666 million viewers. The Bruins were followed by South Carolina (1.57 million), Texas (1.171 million), UConn (835,000) and Notre Dame (818,000).
The Big Ten sweep by Michigan and UCLA snapped lengthy national championship droughts for the conference in the sport. The Wolverines won the first men’s basketball title by a Big Ten school since Michigan State in 2000. The Bruins beat South Carolina to capture the league’s first women’s title since Purdue in 1999.
jhawkins@detroitnews.com
@jamesbhawkins
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan basketball most-watched college hoops team this season
Reporting by James Hawkins, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
