Out-of-home giveth and out-of-home taketh away, as last year’s Easter-inflated Elite Eight viewership set a bar too high for this year’s games to pass.
The NCAA men’s basketball regional finals averaged a 4.2 rating and 9.0 million viewers across CBS, TBS and truTV, down 5% in ratings and 10% in viewership from last year (4.4, 10.1M) — when the Sunday games coincided with the Easter holiday. Compared to two years ago, viewership increased 4% from 8.7 million.
The Sunday games were the primary culprit, declining 26% from Easter Sunday last year. Easter, once a ratings drag, has become a viewer-rich holiday in the Nielsen out-of-home era, delivering the most-watched opening round NBA playoff game in 20 years (2022), the most-watched final round of the Masters in four (2023), and the largest Elite Eight audience in five (2024).
The Easter factor does not fully account for the declines, as both games were on the low side historically. Auburn-Michigan State averaged 11.7 million, down 23% from last year’s five-year high for NC State-Duke (15.1M) and ahead of only Miami-Texas two years ago (11.3M) as the least-watched late Sunday Elite Eight game since 2016 — when the window aired on TBS in primetime.
Auburn’s win still delivered the largest audience of the tournament, no real surprise given the late Sunday Elite Eight window is typically one of the most-watched basketball games in an entire year.
Houston-Tennessee led in with 7.1 million, down 32% from Purdue-Tennessee a year ago (10.4M) and the least-watched Sunday Elite Eight game on any network since at least 2008. In addition to the high bar set last year, this year’s games were hamstrung by largely uncompetitive results.
Saturday’s games were considerably stronger relative to past years, as Duke’s rout of Alabama averaged 9.8 million — up 25% from last year (Alabama-Clemson: 7.8M) and the most-watched Elite Eight game on cable since Duke played in the same window against Arkansas three years ago (10.3M).
Florida’s comeback win over Texas Tech led in with 7.5 million, up 16% from UConn’s year-ago rout of Illinois (6.5M).
Despite the Elite Eight decline, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is averaging a combined 9.4 million viewers per window across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV — even with last year and up 3% from 2023 (9.1M).
