Another opening round upset of Kentucky delivered the largest opening round NCAA Tournament audience in five years.
Thursday’s opening round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament averaged a combined 8.5 million viewers per window across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up slightly from last year (8.4M) and the highest opening day average since 2015.
Oakland-Kentucky was the most-watched game of the day with a 3.4 rating and 6.21 million viewers on CBS, the largest audience for an opening round game since Zion Williamson-led Duke against North Dakota State in 2019 (6.22M) and second-largest under the television format that began in 2011. (Results for Thursday’s two afternoon games on CBS were not immediately available, but it is highly unlikely they would rank higher.)
The Golden Grizzlies’ upset win increased up 70% in ratings and 81% in viewership from Duke-Oral Roberts in the same window last year (2.0, 3.43M) and 9% and 14% respectively from Kentucky’s opening round loss to Saint Peter’s in the same window two years ago (3.1, 5.46M).
The Oakland-Kentucky game pulled viewers away from the competing matchups on cable. Texas-Colorado State averaged 2.51 million on TNT, Gonzaga-McNeese 1.12 million on TBS and Iowa State-South Dakota State 874,000 on truTV — down 27, 35 and 45 percent respectively from last year’s equivalent windows (Auburn-Iowa: 3.44M; Texas-Colgate: 1.71M; Northwestern-Boise State: 1.58M).
The full window averaged a combined 10.71 million across the four networks, up 5% from last year (10.16M) but down slightly from 2022 (10.81M).
Later in the night, NC State-Texas Tech averaged a 2.6 and 4.60 million on CBS — up 31% in ratings and 32% in viewership from Tennessee-Louisiana last year (2.0, 3.48M).
On cable, Kansas-Samford averaged 1.61 million on TBS and Tennessee-Saint Peter’s 1.47 million on TNT, down 13 and 41 percent respectively from last year (Penn State-Texas A&M: 1.85M; Houston-Northern Kentucky: 2.49M). truTV bucked the downward trend with 1.20 million for Washington State-Drake, up 71% from UCLA-UNC Asheville a year ago (703K).
The full window averaged 8.88 million, up 4% year-over-year.
Figures for the afternoon windows are incomplete as CBS data was not immediately available. Oregon-South Carolina was the top daytime draw on cable with 2.02 million on TNT, up 12% from Princeton’s upset of Arizona last year (1.80M). In the same late afternoon window, Illinois-Morehead State drew 1.79 million on truTV (+13%) and Dayton-Nevada 1.50 million on TBS (-24%).
Duquense’s upset of BYU led the early afternoon slate with 1.22 million on truTV, up 34% from Furman’s upset of Virginia last year (905K). Creighton-Akron followed with just 794,000 on TNT (-23%) and Arizona-Long Beach State 766,000 on TBS (-6%).
