With all of the excitement surrounding March Madness, it is easy to overlook the fact that college basketball ratings are sliding — at least on CBS.
This season, CBS drew record low numbers for college basketball coverage. Including conference tournament games, the network averaged a 1.3 rating for regular season games, down 19% from a 1.6 last year — the previous record low.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show also fell in the ratings. Despite the hype surrounding Selection Sunday, ratings for the Selection Show on CBS were down 7% to a 4.0. Going back to 2005, the Selection Show has dropped .3 ratings points in each of the past four years (4.9 in ’05, 4.6 in ’06, 4.3 in ’07 and 4.0 in ’08).
More important than lower ratings for regular season games and a one-hour studio show is the fact that the NCAA Tournament itself has been hovering around record lows for the past several years. Despite solid increases for the Final Four and the National Championship Game, last year’s NCAA Tournament drew the second-lowest average rating ever. The tournament averaged a 6.1, above only the 5.5 for war-affected coverage in 2003.
Though the general downward trend does not bode particularly well for this year’s tournament, some outside factors — especially the writers strike that still has television bare of quality programming — could help college basketball reverse its fortunes.
On cable, the ratings are a different story. ESPN, helped by massive audiences for Memphis/Tennessee and Duke/North Carolina, saw increased college basketball ratings this year. During Championship Week, ratings for the ACC Championship Game between UNC and Clemson were up 14% to a 1.6, while the Big East title game between Pittsburgh and Georgetown saw a 13% increase to a 1.7. The highest rated Championship Week telecast on ESPN was the Big 12 Championship Game between Kansas and Texas, though the 1.8 rating for that game was off 5%.
