At least in primetime, NCAA Tournament ratings opened about even on CBS and Turner.
The first half of Thursday’s primetime NCAA Tournament doubleheader grossed 10.37 million viewers across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV, up a fraction of a percent from last year (10.32M) and up 4% from 2016 (9.96M).
CBS led the way with a 3.5 rating and 5.9 million viewers (+40%) for Kentucky-Davidson. On TBS, Houston-San Diego State had a 1.1 and 1.8 million (+0.5%). TruTV had a 0.8 and 1.4 million (+1%) for Texas Tech-Stephen F. Austin. TNT brought up the rear with a 0.8 and 1.3 million (-56%) for Radford-Villanova.
In the nightcap, CBS and Turner combined for 9.56 million viewers — down a fraction of a percent from last year (9.58M) and down 1% from 2016 (9.61M).
Buffalo’s upset of Arizona led the way with a 2.7 and 4.3 million (-9%) on CBS. TNT’s Alabama-Virginia Tech game followed with a 1.55 and 2.5 million (+8%). On TBS, Michigan-Montana had a 1.2 and 1.9 million (+33%). TruTV posted the smallest audience of the night, a 0.55 and 908,000 (-22%) for Florida-Saint Bonaventure.
Figures were unavailable for Thursday’s afternoon games on CBS. On cable, the top daytime game was Ohio State-South Dakota State on TNT (1.8M, +6%), followed by Seton Hall-N.C. State on TBS (1.6M, -22%) and Loyola-Chicago’s upset of Miami on TruTV (1.2M, +13%).
CBS/Turner did not disclose Thursday’s full averages.
In other action, Wednesday’s Syracuse-Arizona State First Four game had a 1.3 and 2.159 million on TruTV — up 30% in ratings and 34% in viewership from last year (USC-Providence: 1.0, 1.6M) but down slightly from 2016 (Michigan-Tulsa: 1.4, 2.162M).
In the early window, Texas Southern-N.C. Central had a 0.6 and 867,000 (-28%). The complete First Four averaged 1.44 million viewers, down 3% from last year (1.48M) but up 10% from 2016 (1.31M).
[Thu. numbers from Programming Insider 3.15, 3.16, ShowBuzz Daily 3.16]
