Any concerns about Gonzaga and South Carolina dragging down Final Four ratings did not come close to fruition.
Gonzaga-South Carolina earned an 8.5 final rating and 14.7 million viewers in Saturday’s NCAA Tournament Final Four on CBS, up 39% in ratings and 40% in viewership from Villanova’s 44-point rout of Oklahoma last year (6.1, 10.5M) but down 2% and 4% respectively from Duke-Michigan State in 2015 (8.7, 15.3M), both of which aired on TBS, TNT and TruTV.
The Bulldogs’ close win peaked with 20.6 million viewers in the fast-nationals, the most-watched segment of the day (UNC-Oregon peaked with 20.5 million later in the night).
Despite pitting a mid-major against a football school, Gonzaga-South Carolina delivered the second-largest audience for the early Final Four window since Illinois-Louisville in 2005 (15.7M). Duke-MSU in 2015 holds the top spot over that span.
It earned nearly one million more viewers than Kentucky-Louisville in the same window five years ago (13.9M) and comfortably outdrew previous non-traditional matchups like Butler-VCU in 2011 (14.2M) and Florida-George Mason in 2006 (14.5M).
Overall, Saturday’s national semifinals averaged 16.8 million viewers in the fast-nationals — up 44% from last year and behind only 2015 (18.9M) as the most-watched since 1998.
(Sat. numbers from CBS/Turner Sports; additional info from ShowBuzz Daily 4.4)
