College basketball’s conference championship weekend returned to fewer viewers.
Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show averaged 5.46 million viewers on CBS, down 12% from the last time it took place in 2019 (6.20M), but its second-largest audience since 2015 (5.49M). The 12% drop was relatively modest on a weekend of declines for the conference championship games.
The Selection Show was the most-watched sports program of the weekend and trails only the previous week’s NBA All-Star Game (5.94M) as the top non-football sportscast since Mavericks-Lakers NBA Christmas Day game (7.01M). In the key young adult demographics, it ranked second for the weekend on all of television behind the record-low Grammy Awards.
As for the conference tournaments, the Big Ten fared better than the rest — both in raw numbers and compared to 2019. Sunday’s Illinois-Ohio State Big Ten Tournament final finished as the top game of the college basketball season with a 2.2 rating and 3.68 million viewers on CBS, down just 8% and 7% respectively from 2019 (Michigan-Michigan State: 2.4, 3.94M).
Saturday’s Illinois-Iowa semifinal pulled a 1.7 and 2.89 million, ranking second for the season behind Sunday’s title game, and up 31% and 48% respectively from 2019 (Michigan-Minnesota: 1.3, 1.95M). Ohio State-Michigan pulled a 1.6 (+14%) and 2.51 million (+22%) earlier in the day, ranking fourth for the season. Overall, the Big Ten generated the top five audiences of the season.
Steep declines and multi-year lows marked the rest of the weekend slate. Saturday’s Georgia Tech-Florida State ACC Tournament final drew a 1.0 and 1.80 million on ESPN, the lowest for the game since 2010 (0.9, 1.30M) and down 60% and 56% respectively from 2019 — when it featured Zion Williamson and Duke against FSU (2.5, 4.06M).
Sunday’s Alabama-LSU SEC Tournament final had a 1.0 and 1.60 million on ESPN, the lowest for that game in at least 12 years and down 33% and 28% respectively from 2019 (Auburn-Tennessee: 1.45, 2.24M).
Saturday’s Texas-Oklahoma State Big 12 Tournament final drew a 0.9 and 1.65 million on ESPN, the lowest for that game in at least 14 years and down 41% and 34% respectively from 2019 (Iowa State-Kansas: 1.6, 2.52M).
The Oregon State-Colorado Pac-12 Tournament final avoided a multi-season low, but its 0.6 and 1.16 million on ESPN sank 52% and 42% respectively from 2019 (Oregon-Washington: 1.2, 1.99M).
Georgetown’s upset run could not save the Big East Tournament final, as the Hoyas’ rout of Creighton (0.54, 903K) was the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the game since 2015 on FS1 (0.2, 414K) and declined 23% and 20% respectively from 2019 (Villanova-Seton Hall: 0.7, 1.13M).
As for the mid-majors, the St. Bonaventure-VCU Atlantic-10 Tournament final had a 0.7 (-23%) and 1.06 million (-17%) on CBS and the Houston-Cincinnati American Athletic Tournament final a 0.51 (-32%) and 893,000 (-25%) on ESPN.
Bucking the trend, the San Diego State-Utah State Mountain West Tournament final drew a 0.9 and 1.44 million on CBS — flat and up 9% from the same matchup in 2019. Keep in mind the game had a direct lead-in from the strong-performing Illinois-Iowa game.
Top audiences of the college basketball season
