March Madness TV Ratings: Championship Game Down, But Third-Best Since ’05

The final game of the college basketball season could not match last year’s torrid pace, but still earned good number on CBS.

Monday’s Connecticut/Kentucky NCAA Tournament National Championship Game earned a 12.4 rating and 21.2 million viewers on CBS, according to Nielsen fast-nationals — down 11% in ratings and 10% in viewership from Louisville/Michigan last year (14.0, 23.4M), but up 1% and 2%, respectively, from Kentucky/Kansas in 2012 (12.3, 20.9M).

Connecticut’s win earned the third-highest rating and viewership for the men’s title game since 2005, trailing only Duke/Butler in 2010 (14.2, 23.9M) and Louisville/Michigan last year. The National Championship Game has now topped 20 million viewers in four straight years, after failing to hit that mark in six of the previous seven.

Overall, Connecticut/Kentucky ranks as the eighth-lowest rated title game dating back to 1975, and the tenth-least viewed dating back to 1980. Of course, most sporting events today are hard-pressed to reach the high levels of the 1990s, much less the 1980s or 1970s.

Among adults 18-49, Monday’s game earned a 7.2 rating — down 14% from last year (8.4), and down 5% from 2012 (7.6).

Excluding the NFL and the Olympics, Connecticut/Kentucky ranks as the third-most viewed sporting event on any network since last year’s NCAA Tournament, trailing only the Florida State/Auburn BCS National Championship Game on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS (14.8, 26.1M) and last year’s Game 7 of the Heat/Spurs NBA Finals on ABC (15.3, 26.3M).

Men’s National Championship Game Ratings/Viewership, Past Decade

(Mon. numbers from Sports Business Daily, The Futon Critic)