Monday’s Connecticut/Butler Men’s NCAA Tournament title game ranks among the lowest rated all-time, but the viewership was the third-best of the past nine seasons.
Connecticut’s ugly victory over cold-shooting Butler in the NCAA Tournament National Championship Game earned an 11.7 final rating and 20.055 million viewers on CBS Monday night, down 18% in ratings and 16% in viewership from last year (DUKE/BUT: 14.2, 23.944M), but up 8% and 14%, respectively, from 2009 (UNC/MSU: 10.8, 17.649M).
This marks the fourth-lowest rated National Championship Game ever, ahead of only 2009 (UNC/MSU: 10.8), 2004 (CONN/CT: 11.0), and 2006 (UF/UCLA: 11.2). Connecticut has now played in two of the four lowest-rated games.
However, the game also ranks as the third-most viewed title game of the past nine seasons, earning a larger audience than the 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004 and 2003 games.
Monday’s game drew a 7.1 rating among adults 18-49, down 13% from last year (8.2), but up 13% from 2009 (6.3). The 7.1 was the highest rating of the night for any program in the demographic.
That said, the National Championship Game was not the top program of Monday night in ratings and viewership. That honor went to ABC’s Dancing with the Stars (13.5, 21.832M), which also outdrew the title game in 2009.
For some perspective, Connecticut/Butler drew a lower rating and fewer viewers than January’s BCS National Championship Game, which aired on cable network ESPN (AUB/ORE: 15.3, 27.316M). The game also drew fewer viewers than the Rose Bowl, also on ESPN (20.558M).
The game did outdraw several other marquee sporting events, including this year’s Daytona 500 (8.7, 15.597M), the final round of last year’s Tiger Woods-fueled Masters (10.7, 16.676M), every game of last year’s World Series, and six of the seven games of last year’s NBA Finals.
(Numbers from Turner Sports, TV By the Numbers)
