NCAA Title Game is Lowest Rated, Least-Watched

The college basketball season ended on a record-low note as national championship ratings fell into the single-digits for the first time.

Monday’s Villanova-Michigan NCAA Tournament national championship earned a 9.2 rating and 16.0 million viewers across TBS, TNT and TruTV — down 30% in ratings and 31% in viewership from last year on CBS (UNC-Gonzaga: 13.2, 23.0M) and down 13% and 10% respectively from 2016 on the Turner networks (Villanova-UNC: 10.6, 17.8M).

Including streaming viewership on March Madness Live, the game had 16.5 million viewers. Previous TV+streaming figures were not available.

The Wildcats’ win ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched NCAA Tournament final on record (dates back to 1975). The previous lows were a 10.6 (2016) and 17.1 million (2004: UConn-GT). The two championship games on cable rank as the lowest rated ever and are two of the five least-watched.

The national championship merely tied the highest rating of this year’s NCAA Tournament. Kansas-Duke had the same 9.2 on CBS in the regional finals. It only barely topped Kansas-Duke as the most-watched game of the tournament.

TV viewership peaked at 17.9 million from 10-10:15 PM ET, down from last year’s peak (26.1M) and the 2016 peak (22.3M). It actually outpaced 2016 in that quarter-hour, but while 2016 viewership eventually rose to the aforementioned 22.3 million, this year’s audience fell to 15.7 million by the conclusion.

The traditional broadcast on TBS posted a 7.5 rating and 13.3 million viewers, down a modest 8% and 4% respectively from the network’s last title game in 2016. The team-centric broadcasts both declined double-digits, with Michigan coverage on TNT down 32% (to 1.3) and 34% (to 2.1M) and Villanova coverage on TruTV down 22% (to 0.37) and 21% (to 613K).

Monday’s game combined for a 4.8 rating in adults 18-49, down 32% from last year on CBS (7.1) and down 19% from 2016 on Turner (5.9). The 4.8 was not even the highest demo rating of the week, trailing the reanimated “Roseanne” on ABC six nights earlier (5.2).

It had a 4.0 rating in adults 18-34, down 32% from last year (5.9) and down 23% from 2016 (5.2). Ratings also fell 32% in adults 25-54 (from 7.9 to 5.4).

Compared to other sports, Villanova-Michigan was no match for college football’s national championship in January. The Alabama-Georgia thriller had a 15.6, 28.4 million and an 8.9 in 18-49 across the ESPN family of networks.

The national championship also trailed every NBA Finals game since 2014.

Lowest NCAA National Championship Ratings, Viewership
Games on cable highlighted

[Mon. numbers from Programming Insider 4.4, March Madness TV/Twitter 4.3]