The NCAA men’s basketball national championship dominated an otherwise empty night in sports television.
Monday’s UConn-Purdue NCAA men’s basketball title game averaged a combined 7.6 rating and 14.82 million viewers across TBS (7.40M), TNT (6.20M) and truTV (1.22M) — down 3% in ratings but up 1% in viewership from last year (7.8, 14.69M). The Huskies’ win ranks as the lowest rated and second-least watched title game on record. For more details on the national championship ratings, see the preceding link.
With the national championship taking center stage, there was little else of note in the sports department. MLB Network averaged 200,000 for regional action opposite the title game, down from championship Monday last year (227K).
The premiere of the ESPN documentary “26.2 to Life” — about inmates at San Quentin training for the prison’s annual marathon — debuted opposite the title game with 146,000 viewers.
The basketball version of ESPN’s “College Gameday” pregame show led in with 586,000, down 2% from last year (599K). The slight decline is despite greater competition from a two-hour pregame show on the Turner networks, compared to a half-hour pregame on CBS last year.
With the national title game on the Turner cable networks — as it is every other year through 2032 — CBS was left to air a night of “NCIS” that averaged a 2.2 rating, 3.52 million viewers and a 0.22 in adults 18-49. With a 3.9 in 18-49, the national title game unsurprisingly topped all of the night’s “Big Four” broadcast television programming combined (2.25).
Monday, April 8 sports ratings
Updated chart:
Original chart below (includes WWE Raw):
