In a down year for the NCAA Tournament, the Sweet Sixteen was no exception.
Viewership declined for all four NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen telecast windows last week. Thursday’s early window had the biggest drop, as the combined audience of 8.4 million on CBS and TBS declined 39% from last year and 17% from 2014 (10.2M).
In particular, TBS had 2.8 million for Oklahoma/Texas A&M — down 59% from Wisconsin/North Carolina last year (6.9M), down 7% from Dayton/Florida in 2014 (3.0M), and the third-smallest audience for an individual Sweet Sixteen game since the current TV format began in 2011. The only games with a smaller audience were La Salle/Wichita State in 2013 (2.3M) and Kansas/Richmond in 2011 (2.7M).
Over on CBS, Villanova/Miami had 5.6 million (-20%).
The late window drew a combined 10.8 million, down 14% from last year (12.6M) but up 3% from 2014 (10.5M). Kansas/Maryland had 6.8 million on CBS (-16%) and Oregon/Duke 4.0 million on TBS (-12%).
Shifting to Friday, the early window combined for 9.9 million viewers — down 2% from last year (10.2M) and down 13% from 2014 (11.4M). The late window combined for 11.2 million, down 7% from last year (12.1M).
CBS had declines for both of its Friday games, with Virginia/Iowa State down 12% (from 5.8M to 5.2M) and Syracuse/Gonzaga off 18% (from 7.6M to 6.3M). TBS, on the other hand, posted increases for its doubleheader. Notre Dame/Wisconsin rose 10% (from 4.3M to 4.8M) and North Carolina/Indiana 11% (from 4.5M to 5.0M).
(Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2])
