Through the first three rounds of play, ratings have held steady for the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
Coverage of the NCAA Tournament averaged a combined 5.6 U.S. rating on CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV through Sunday, even with last year (5.6) and up 17% from 2010 coverage on CBS alone (4.8).
Turner Sports did not disclose average viewership for the NCAA Tournament in a Tuesday press release, and CBS/Turner Sports did not disclose ratings and viewership for Sunday’s four telecast windows.
With that said, viewership was available for Sunday’s individual games on TNT, TBS and TruTV. On TNT, Norfolk State/Florida drew 1.610 million viewers, down 64% from last year’s comparable game on the network (ARI/TEX: 4.408M). Later in the night, Purdue/Kansas drew 4.432 million, up slightly from last year (KU/ILL: 4.408M).
Over on TBS, Ohio/USF drew 2.491 million viewers, down 6% from last year’s comparable game on the network (VCU/PUR: 2.662M). In the nightcap, Cincinnati/Florida State drew 2.658 million, down 22% from last year (FSU/ND: 3.408M).
Finally, TruTV drew 1.995 million for Xavier/Lehigh, down 10% from last year (MARQ/SYR: 2.215).
Final numbers for Sunday’s games on CBS were not immediately available.
(Sunday’s numbers from Turner press release via The Futon Critic, with additional information from The Futon Critic)
