Mike Krzyzewski’s final run is drawing well in the ratings, though not dramatically better than any other games.
Thursday’s Duke-Texas Tech NCAA men’s basketball regional semifinal averaged a 4.8 rating and 8.23 million viewers on CBS, marking the most-watched Thursday Sweet 16 game since Kansas State’s upset of Kentucky in 2018 (8.27M). Ratings increased 25% and viewership 35% from the equivalent 2019 window (Texas Tech-Michigan: 3.8, 6.11M).
Last year’s Sweet Sixteen games aired in standalone weekend windows. The ‘equivalent’ window last year, Baylor-Villanova on a Saturday afternoon, averaged a 4.2 and 7.54 million (pending revision).
The Blue Devils’ win delivered the fifth-largest audience of this year’s tournament, ranking behind four games last weekend — Duke-Michigan State (11.22M), Michigan-Tennessee (9.83M), Kansas-Creighton (8.71M) and Ohio State-Villanova (8.62M).
Despite the close score and the Krzyzewski retirement storyline, ratings and viewership were not much higher than the preceding Arkansas-Gonzaga game — which drew a 4.6 and 8.16 million, up 14% and 26% respectively from 2019 (Gonzaga-FSU: 4.0, 6.48M). The ‘equivalent’ window last year, Oregon State-Loyola Chicago on a Saturday afternoon, had a 3.4 and 5.74 million (pending revision).
In concurrent windows on TBS, Villanova-Michigan averaged 3.15 million viewers and Houston-Arizona 2.36 million — down 35% and 34% respectively from 2019 (Purdue-Tennessee: 4.88M; Virginia-Oregon: 3.56M). Last year’s ‘equivalent’ games on TBS aired in standalone primetime windows, with Oral Roberts-Arkansas at 5.94 million and Houston-Syracuse at 5.52 million (pending revision).
Houston-Arizona ranks as the least-watched Sweet 16 game in nine years, since Wichita State-La Salle on TBS in 2013 (2.34M).
Overall, Thursday’s early window combined for 11.32 million and the late window 10.59 million — the former down slightly from 2019 (11.36M) and the latter up 10% (from 9.67M).
[Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 3.25]
