BTN Communications, March 5, 2020
On the heels of a record-breaking year for wrestling ratings, which saw the average audience per broadcast increase +38%, BTN today announced its plans for the 2020 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. This year?s tournament features eight of the top 10 teams in the country, according to FloWrestling.
On March 7, sessions one and two will stream live on BTN+ with cameras on all mats and live commentary to accompany the broadcast. On March 8, session three, along with the third and fifth place mats, will stream live on BTN+, while the championship matches will air live on BTN and the FOX Sports app at 3:30 p.m. ET. Prior to Sunday?s championship matches, BTN will air a special 30-minute BTN Live from Piscataway hosted by Shane Sparks and featuring analysts Tim Johnson and Jim Gibbons.
BTN?s upped its wrestling coverage by +40% this season, and the average audience per regular season wrestling broadcast grew from 82,288 viewers to 113,631, an increase of +38%. Additionally, three of BTN?s top-five rated wrestling events of all time came during the 2019-20 season, including No. 1 Iowa vs. No. 2 Penn State.
History of BTN?s Top-Five Regular Season Big Ten Duals (excludes postseason)
|
Date |
Visitor | Home | Viewers |
|
01/31/20 |
PENN STATE | IOWA |
342,955 |
|
02/03/18 |
OHIO STATE | PENN STATE |
309,265 |
|
02/08/19 |
PENN STATE | OHIO STATE |
260,633 |
|
02/23/20 |
OKLAHOMA STATE | IOWA |
190,952 |
| 02/08/20 | IOWA | MICHIGAN |
184,375 |
*Data According to Nielsen Media Research
Big Ten wrestling also performed exceedingly well on YouTube, where over 300 videos were posted this season. 21 of BTN?s top 25 videos (covering all sports) posted since Nov. 1 are wrestling related, and wrestling content on YouTube has delivered over 400,000 hours of watch time along with 5.9 million views. BTN?s YouTube channel has experienced a +47% increase in year-over-year views, driven primarily by Big Ten wrestling.
Across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Big Ten wrestling delivered an additional set of strong results, accounting for over 23 million impressions and nearly 5.2 million views across 967 posts throughout the season.
All championship matches on BTN can be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the FOX Sports App. All BTN+ matches can streamed be via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the BTN+ app.
BTN?s full schedule for the 2020 Big Ten Wrestling Championships can be found below.
2020 Big Ten Wrestling Championships:
Session One - March 7, 10 a.m. ET (BTN+)
Session Two - March 7, 6:30 p.m. ET (BTN+)
Session Three - March 8, 11 a.m. ET (BTN+)
B1G Championship - March 8, 3:30 p.m. ET (BTN)
