NCAA numbers.

Two differing takes on the NCAA Tournament ratings. This Sports Business Daily blurb sounds very positive:

“CBS earned a 5.5/12 overnight Nielsen rating for the first three days of NCAA men?s basketball tournament coverage, up 2% from a 5.4/12 last year. Saturday?s 3:30-6:30pm ET window drew a 6.8/16 overnight, up 11% from last year?s comparable 6.1/14 and the best rating in the window since a 7.1/19 in ?88. Overall, Saturday?s coverage earned a 6.8/15 overnight, up 6% from a 6.4/14 last year. CBS? coverage on Thursday and Friday averaged a 5.0/11 overnight, up 2% from last year?s 4.9/11 and the best two-day average since ?91 (THE DAILY).“

So CBS is getting the best numbers for March Madness in nearly twenty years. But Michael Hiestand of USA Today has a different point of view.

“But even with three overtime games Saturday ? the first time the NCAA tournament has had that many on a single day ? NCAA ratings aren’t going to break any records. Through the wall-to-wall basketball buffet of the first three days, CBS’ overnights are averaging 5.5, up 2% from last year but down 2% from 2005. (Last year, CBS’ total coverage averaged 6.3% of U.S. TV households ? its NCAA average hasn’t topped 7% since 1998.)“

So are the ratings spectacular or underwhelming? Compared to other sports, the ratings are quite good. And some individual coverage windows have seen significant improvements from previous years. However, overall, the numbers are fairly flat — which is to be expected from an event like the NCAA Tourney, which doesn’t live and die with large markets.

Look for ratings to increase, at least slightly, as the Tournament continues. While Duke is out, there are still enough big name schools left to carry CBS’ coverage.