The first big weekend of college basketball on CBS was a mixed draw in the metered markets.
Sunday’s Iowa/Ohio State college basketball game scored a 1.5 overnight rating on CBS, up 25% from Michigan State/Wisconsin last year (1.2) and even with Ohio State/Indiana in 2014.
The 1.5 is tied as the third-highest of the season on CBS, matching Maryland/Ohio State and Duke/N.C. State in January and behind only Louisville/Kentucky (1.9) and Ohio State/Kentucky (1.7) in December. Keep in mind several games on ESPN have posted higher overnights.
Duke/Pittsburgh had a 1.2 earlier in the day, up a third from SMU/Connecticut last year (0.9) and up 50% from Marquette/Villanova in ’14 (0.8).
CBS did not have as much success on Saturday. Kentucky/Vanderbilt scored a 1.3 overnight, down 35% from Arkansas/Kentucky last year (2.0) but up 30% from LSU/Florida in ’14 (1.0). Oklahoma/Texas had either a 1.2 overnight (Sports Business Daily) or a 1.0 (ShowBuzz Daily), but either way that was down from last year’s 1.3 for North Carolina/Miami. Finally, Butler/Georgetown scored a 0.8, off a tick from last year’s Georgetown/St. John’s game (0.9).
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily/ShowBuzz Daily)
