The Big Ten Network’s coverage of the 2021 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament became the most-watched men’s tournament in network history and included the most-watched men’s basketball game in network history.
Across the entire tournament on BTN, the total audience grew by more than 14% to more than 5.2 million viewers. The average audience for each game grew by more than 15%. The first-round averaged increased by more than 9%. The second-round average went up by more than 11% and the Friday quarterfinals saw an increase of more than 18%.
Driving the quarterfinal increase was Friday night’s game between Iowa and Wisconsin, which earned 938,784 viewers, the highest-rated game in network history.