The NCAA men’s and women’s Sweet 16 both posted increases over last year on Friday, March 29.
Friday’s Duke-Houston NCAA men’s basketball tournament regional semifinal averaged a 3.8 rating and 7.33 million viewers on CBS, up 41% in ratings and 52% in viewership from Texas-Xavier last year (2.7, 4.81M) and the most-watched sporting event of the day. The Blue Devils’ upset win ranked second out of the eight Sweet 16 games, behind Alabama-North Carolina the prior night (4.2, 7.80M).
In the competing window on cable, Tennessee-Creighton averaged 3.33 million across TBS (2.74M) and truTV (582K) — down 24% from Creighton-Princeton on TBS alone last year (4.37M). The full telecast window combined to average 10.66 million across CBS, TBS and truTV, up 16% from last year’s two-network average (9.18M).
Earlier in the night, CBS averaged a 3.3 and 6.44 million for NC State-Marquette — up 13% in ratings and 25% in viewership from Miami-Houston last year (2.9, 5.15M). The competing Purdue-Gonzaga game scored 3.84 million across TBS (3.14M) and truTV (694K), down 15% from San Diego State-Alabama a year ago (4.51M). The combined average of 10.33 million still marked a 6% increase over last year (9.66M).
Overall, the Friday slate averaged a combined 10.47 million viewers across CBS, TBS and truTV, up 11% from 9.43 million last year. The full Sweet 16 averaged 10.35 million, up 6% from last year (9.80M). (Individually, the Sweet Sixteen games averaged 5.21 million, up from 4.91 million last year.)
Shifting to the women’s game, the four Sweet 16 games on ESPN averaged 1.28 million viewers — up 32% from last year (970K) despite the fact that last year’s four-game slate featured Iowa and LSU. (Those teams played on Saturday this year.)
South Carolina’s closer-than-expected win over Indiana led the way with 2.11 million on ESPN, up 92% from LSU-Utah in the same window last year (1.10M) and the second-largest Sweet 16 audience on record behind Ohio State-UConn on ABC last year (2.41M).
Oregon State-Notre Dame led in with 1.20 million, up 58% from Miami-Villanova a year ago (762K). The primetime games posted rare declines as NC State-Stanford drew 1.16 million and Texas-Gonzaga 683,000 — down 10 and 13 percent respectively from last year’s pairing of Iowa-Colorado (1.29M) and Louisville-Mississippi (733K).
Beyond the hardwood, second round coverage of the PGA Tour Houston Open averaged 432,000 on Golf Channel, up 31% from coverage of the Texas Open on the same day last year (331K). (The Houston Open had not been played this time of year since 2018.)
A Brewers-Mets Major League Baseball game drew 271,000 on MLB Network, followed by primetime regional action (Blue Jays-Rays or Pirates-Marlins) at 167,000 (-28%). NBA TV averaged 213,000 for Lakers-Pacers and 191,000 for Mavericks-Kings in an NBA regular season doubleheader, down 45% and 36% respectively from last year, when coverage did not face the NCAA men’s tournament.
Further down the dial, ESPN2 drew 160,000 for a Texas-Oklahoma State college softball game, while the NCAA men’s hockey tournament topped out at 118,000 for Michigan-North Dakota on ESPNU. In other hockey action, Michigan Tech-Boston College averaged 60,000 and Michigan State-Western Michigan 42,000.
The FS1 talk show “Undisputed” hit a record-low for a second-straight day with just 42,000 viewers.
Friday, March 29 sports ratings
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