Lexington Named Top College Basketball Market in Nielsen’s First Fandom Index

Lexington, Kentucky stands alone as the top market in college basketball, according to a new metric released by Nielsen last week that measures how passionately cities across the country follow the sport.

Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, released its inaugural Nielsen Scarborough Local College Basketball Fandom Index to rank the 20 most avid college basketball markets in the country. Lexington claimed the top spot with an average index score of 289, while Louisville followed closely in second at 277, giving the state of Kentucky the top two markets in the nation. Des Moines/Ames, Raleigh/Durham and Indianapolis rounded out the top five.

To build the rankings, Nielsen drew on its proprietary data and media intelligence across seven key metrics: apparel purchases, event attendance, streaming, social media following, TV viewership, radio listening and overall interest level. The index covers both men’s and women’s college basketball, so it reflects how each market supports the game as a whole rather than a single program.

The report also found that the Lexington and Louisville markets led the nation across TV, streaming, radio and live events. That gives both cities a strong claim as the places where enthusiasm for college basketball runs deepest, and it confirms what fans in the Bluegrass State have long believed about their devotion to the game.