BiG Ten Network Sets Records

Men’s Basketball on BTN Delivers Most-Watched Regular Season in Network History

Top two regular season games in BTN history contribute to +12% growth

 

CHICAGO, Ill. – The 2019-20 men’s basketball regular season on BTN was the most-watched in network history, resulting in +12% overall growth across all games – averaging 223,749 viewers – and a +14% increase during conference play – averaging 281,641 viewers.

Three of BTN’s top 10 regular season games of all time took place in 2019-20, including the No. 1 and No. 2 games during the first eight days of March. This past Sunday, Illinois vs. Iowa averaged 645,818 viewers, slotting in just behind Minnesota vs. Wisconsin on March 1, which averaged 693,272.

Several Big Ten programs experienced dramatic individual year-over-year growth for conference game broadcasts, including a +51% increase for Illinois, a +47% increase for Indiana, a +43% increase for Maryland, a +34% increase for Penn State, a +30% increase for Rutgers and a +15% increase for Iowa. All six programs are predicted to make the NCAA Tournament according to Fox Sports and BTN’s Mike DeCourcy and NCAA.com and BTN’s Andy Katz. Both analysts also predict a total of 10 Big Ten teams into the field of 68.

BTN’s top 10 games of the 2019-20 regular season, according to Nielsen Media Research, are as follows:

Date	Teams	Viewers
3/1/2020	MINNESOTA VS WISCONSIN	693,272
3/8/2020	IOWA VS ILLINOIS	645,818
3/1/2020	INDIANA VS ILLINOIS	545,263
3/3/2020	PURDUE VS IOWA	472,693
1/30/2020	IOWA VS MARYLAND	455,490
2/26/2020	MARYLAND VS MINNESOTA	454,395
12/11/2019	MICHIGAN VS ILLINOIS	447,760
2/29/2020	PENN STATE VS IOWA	445,981
12/29/2019	ARKANSAS VS INDIANA	439,569
2/13/2020	IOWA VS INDIANA	428,982

 

Basketball coverage on BTN continues today with the start of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament in Indianapolis. Minnesota faces Northwestern at 6 p.m. ET prior to Indiana taking on Nebraska at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET.

All games and studio programming on BTN can be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the FOX Sports App.

 

BTN’s complete tournament schedule is below:

Wednesday

B1G Tip-Off Show	5:30 PM ET
Minnesota vs. Northwestern	6:00 PM ET
B1G Basketball Game Break	8:00 PM
Indiana vs. Nebraska	8:30 PM
B1G Basketball Postgame	10:30 PM
The B1G Show	11:00PM

 

Thursday

B1G Tip-Off Show	11:30 AM
Rutgers vs. Michigan	12:00 PM
B1G Basketball Game Break	2:00 PM
Iowa vs. Winner of Game 1	2:30 PM
B1G Basketball Postgame	4:30 PM
BTN Live: B1G Tournament Edition	5:00 PM
B1G Tip-Off Show	6:00 PM
Ohio State vs. Purdue	6:30 PM
B1G Basketball Game Break	8:30 PM
Penn State vs. Winner of Game 2	9:00 PM
B1G Basketball Postgame	11:00 PM
The B1G Show	11:30 AM

 

Friday

B1G Tip-Off Show	11:30 AM
Wisconsin vs. Winner of Game 3	12:00 PM
B1G Basketball Game Break	2:00 PM
Illinois vs. Winner of Game 4	2:30 PM
B1G Basketball Postgame	4:30 PM
BTN Live: B1G Tournament Edition	5:00 PM
B1G Tip-Off Show	6:00 PM
Michigan State vs. Winner of Game 5	6:30 PM
B1G Basketball Game Break	8:30 PM
Maryland vs. Winner of Game 6	9:00 PM
B1G Basketball Postgame	11:00 PM
The B1G Show	11:30 AM

 

Saturday

BTN Live: Semifinals Tip-Off Show	12:30 PM
BTN Live: Basketball Postgame	5:30 PM
The B1G Show	9:30 PM

 

Sunday

BTN Live: Championship Tip-Off Show	3:00 PM
B1G Basketball & Beyond: Selection Sunday Special	8:00 PM

 

About BTN: A joint venture between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, BTN is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With more than 1,700 events across all platforms, the 24/7 network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. The Fox Sports App is the digital extension of the Big Ten Network, delivering live games and on-demand programming to Big Ten Network customers via the web, smartphones, and tablets. Network events include football, men’s and women’s basketball games, dozens of Big Ten Olympic sports and championship events, studio shows and classic games. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation’s finest universities, including the Emmy-nominated The Journey. The network is in more than 60 million homes across the United States and Canada, including carriage by all the major video distributors, such as DIRECTV, DISH, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-Verse, Charter Communications, Comcast Xfinity, Altice USA, Cox Communications, Mediacom, RCN, WOW!, and approximately 300 additional video providers across North America. BTN is also available through the majority of OTT providers, including AT&T TV NOW, YouTube TV, Hulu and fuboTV. For additional information, please visit www.btn.com.

 

BTN Announces Coverage and Broadcasters for 2020 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament

14 Teams. One Home.

 

CHICAGO, Ill. – BTN’s week-long coverage of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament presented by SoFi continues tonight and features the tournament’s first 10 game broadcasts, 26 studio shows and an array of experienced broadcasters and analysts on-site for the conclusion of the Big Ten season.

 

Game broadcasts:

BTN is the exclusive home of the first 10 games of the Big Ten Tournament. The broadcast pairings feature talented play-by-play voices and analysts, including a Friday evening trio of Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst) and Andy Katz (sideline). Brandon Gaudin (play-by-play), Stephen Bardo (analyst) and Mike Hall (sideline) will handle duties for opening night in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse, with the first game tipping off at 6:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday followed by game two at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET. Coverage resumes at Noon ET on Thursday, when Anderson, Shon Morris (analyst) and Katz call the first session. For session two, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET, Kevin Kugler (play-by-play) closes out the night alongside Bardo and Rick Pizzo (sideline). On Friday at noon ET, Kugler will be joined by Morris and Pizzo for the first session, before Anderson, Raftery and Katz (sideline) lead the tournament into the weekend.

 

Game broadcasts, along with pre and postgame studio shows, will be available in 4K on DIRECTV, XFINITY, Verizon Fios, RCN and other select partners. Additionally, games and studio programming can be streamed in 4K via compatible devices on Fire TV, Apple TV 4K and Roku.

 

Studio:

BTN’s Studio coverage continues before and after games all week, including four live shows on Wednesday, eight live shows on Thursday and Friday, three shows on Saturday and two on Sunday. Dave Revsine and Hall will anchor BTN’s studio presence, along with a combination of Ben Brust, Brian Butch, Mike DeCourcy, Tim Miles, Jess Settles, Bardo and Morris.

 

Digital Coverage:

All games and studio programming on BTN can be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the FOX Sports App.

 

BTN’s social media coverage, presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In addition to behind-the-scenes content and game highlights, The Flippist also created a custom, hand-drawn illustration based on two iconic Big Ten Tournament moments featuring Evan Turner’s half-court buzzer beater and Victor Oladipo’s 360-degree dunk.

 

Original Programming:

The Journey, BTN’s Emmy-nominated original series, will also be on-site to capture behind-the-scenes footage throughout the tournament. The one-hour season finale of The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2020 will debut at 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 18.