The NCAA Tournament has gotten off to a strong start on the court, but not as much in the ratings.
According to Sports Business Daily, NCAA Tournament coverage has averaged a combined 8.5 million viewers per window on CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV through the first two rounds — down 9% from both last year and 2014 (9.3M both years) and the lowest average at this point of the event since 2012 (8.2M).
Viewership declined for most of the primetime windows over the weekend, including both on Sunday. The early evening window had a combined 13.5 million across CBS, TBS and TNT, down 11% from last year (15.2M) and down 16% from 2014 (16.1M). The top performing game was Oklahoma/VCU on CBS, which had 8.3 million (-17%).
Sunday’s late window combined for 8.3 million on TBS, TNT and TruTV, down 18% from last year (10.2M) but up 3% from ’14 (8.1M). TNT’s Xavier/Wisconsin game led the way with 3.1 million (-19%).
The previous night, early evening coverage added up to a tournament-high 14.0 million across CBS, TBS and TNT — up a fraction of a percent from last year (14.03M to 13.99M) and up 1% from 2014 (13.8M). Kentucky/Indiana was the top draw with 10.5 million on CBS, the highest of the tournament for an individual game and up 25% from Arizona/Ohio State last year (8.4M).
Saturday’s late window combined for 12.0 million, down 2% from last year (12.3M) and down 8% from 2014 (13.2M). Kansas/Connecticut led the way with 6.2 million on CBS, up 28% from Utah/Georgetown last year (4.8M). The window aired opposite ABC’s Warriors/Spurs NBA contest (5.2M).
Finally, Friday’s primetime windows combined for 9.9 million (early) and 9.7 million (late), up 9% and down 3%, respectively, from last year’s 9.1 and 10.0 million.
(Numbers via Sports Business Daily, Programming Insider [1], [2], [3])
