The NCAA Tournament has been a strong draw in recent years (last year a noted exception), but the Selection Show remains in a prolonged decline.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show pulled a 3.0 final rating and 4.9 million viewers on CBS Sunday evening, down 9% in ratings and 7% in viewership from last year (3.3, 5.2M) and down 14% and 11% respectively from 2015 (3.5, 5.5M). This year’s show was a half-hour shorter than last year and a half-hour longer than in 2015.
The 3.0 rating is the lowest ever for the Selection Show, marking the third-straight year ratings have hit an all-time low. Selection Show ratings have now declined for four straight years after the 2013 edition posted a 4.2.
There may be little CBS can do to turnaround Selection Show ratings, which incredibly have increased just three times this century — 2004 (+9%), 2009 (+10%) and 2013 (+17%). Ratings have now fallen by nearly half since 2000 (5.9).
Despite the lower numbers, the Selection Show still ranked second among all sports programs over the weekend behind NASCAR Cup Series racing on FOX (3.6, 6.0M).
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 3.16)
