Duke ended its made-for-TV NCAA Tournament run with another ratings high.
Sunday’s Michigan State-Duke NCAA Tournament regional final earned a 9.4 rating and 16.20 million viewers on CBS, up 3% in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year (Kansas-Duke: 9.2, 15.44M) and up 6% and 5% respectively from 2017 (UNC-Kentucky: 8.9, 15.47M).
The Spartans’ upset win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched basketball game, outside of the NBA Finals or Final Four, since 2005. That year, Michigan State-Kentucky had a 10.4 and 17.91 million in the Elite Eight.
The previous highs were 9.2 for Kansas-Duke last year and 16.0 million for Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Western Conference Finals.
Keep in mind that some NCAA Tournament windows have delivered larger audiences, including just a week earlier, when Duke-UCF, Virginia Tech-Liberty and Texas Tech-Buffalo combined for 17.32 million on CBS, TBS and TNT.
Since every NCAA Tournament game began airing nationally in 2011, Duke has played in five of the nine most-watched games, excluding the Final Four. That includes two games involving this year’s Zion Williamson-led team.
Including the Final Four, MSU-Duke ranks as the highest rated and most-watched college basketball game in two years — since the 2017 national championship (UNC-Gonzaga: 13.2, 23.00M). It topped last year’s Villanova-Michigan title game, which aired on TBS, TNT and TruTV (9.2, 15.97M).
Overall, all four NCAA Tournament games involving Duke increased over last year. The Blue Devils played in the most-watched first and second round games under the current TV format, the most-watched regional semifinal since 2014, and the most-watched regional final since 2005. Three of Duke’s four games had ten million viewers, tying Kentucky in 2014 as the most for any team prior to the Final Four under the current format.
The game had a 4.4 rating in adults 18-49, up 7% from last year (4.2), and television’s highest rating in the demo since the Academy Awards in February (7.7). It more-than-doubled the night’s top non-sports program, 60 Minutes (2.0). Notably, it crushed the season finale of AMC’s once-dominant The Walking Dead, which had a 1.9 in the demo and 5.02 million viewers.
Most-watched NCAA Tournament games, excluding the Final Four
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 4.2]
