So far, March Madness has been an air ball.
Ratings for the NCAA Tournament were down 11% through Saturday, reports USA Today, putting the tournament on pace to be the second lowest rated ever — ahead of only the war-affected 2003 tournament.
Much of the blame has been pinned on the relatively drama-less games. The only real underdog to advance far in the tournament was Davidson, whose run ended last night. With the Final Four including only #1 seeds, some of the intrigue surrounding March Madness has diminished.
While ratings are declining, CBS is putting up a decent performance. Prime time coverage of the NCAA Tournament has been putting numbers on par with what the NBA Finals drew last June.
Before being eliminated in the Elite Eight, Davidson helped CBS to some huge numbers. Last night, overrun of the Kansas/Davidson match-up drew 17.2 million viewers on CBS, up significantly from the 11 million viewers similar coverage drew in ’07.
Preliminary viewership for prime time NCAA Tournament coverage.
Thu., 3/20: 8.5 million viewers (8 PM – 11 PM portion only)
Fri., 3/21: 8.3 million viewers (8 PM – 11 PM portion only)
Sat., 3/22: 9.0 million viewers (8 PM – 11 PM portion only)
Sun., 3/23: 12 million viewers* (7 PM – 8 PM portion only)
Thu., 3/27: 9.8 million viewers (8 PM – 11 PM portion only)
Fri., 3/28: 8.8 million viewers (8 PM – 11 PM portion only)
Sat., 3/29: 9.2 million viewers (8 PM – 11 PM portion only)
Sun., 3/30: 17.2 million viewers* (7 PM -7:30 PM portion only)
*: viewership is for prime time overrun only
