The last weekend before Selection Sunday brought mixed numbers to CBS.
Maryland/Indiana college basketball earned a 1.3 final rating and 2.1 million viewers, flat in ratings and up 3% in viewership from Wisconsin/Ohio State last year (1.3, 2.0M) and down 24% and 15%, respectively, from Michigan State/Ohio State in 2014 (1.7, 2.5M). Other than Duke/North Carolina, which drew a 1.9 and 3.2 million on ESPN, the Hoosiers’ win was the top college basketball game of last week.
Earlier in the day, the Northern Iowa/Evansville Missouri Valley Conference championship had a 0.8 and 1.1 million — flat in ratings and down 8% in viewership from Illinois State/Northern Iowa last year (0.8, 1.2M) and down 20% and 24%, respectively, from Wichita State/Indiana State in ’14 (1.0, 1.5M).
Rounding out the tripleheader, SMU/Cincinnati drew a 0.8 and 1.2 million — up a tick in ratings and up 20% in viewership from last year’s Memphis/Cincinnati game (0.7, 928K) but down 20% and 18%, respectively, from Virginia/Maryland in ’14 (1.0, 1.4M).
Shifting to last Saturday’s games, LSU/Kentucky earned a 1.1 and 1.6 million — down 35% in ratings and 40% in viewership from Florida/Kentucky last year (1.7, 2.7M) and down 8% in both measures from Connecticut/Louisville in 2014 (1.2, 1.8M).
Bookending the tripleheader, N.C. State/Notre Dame had a 0.7 and 985,000 viewers, while Stanford/Arizona had a 0.7 and 982,000. The former was down 13% in ratings and 20% in viewership, while the latter was off 22% and 25%, respectively.
Elsewhere on broadcast, FOX drew a 0.4 and 492,000 for Georgetown/Villanova — up a tick in ratings and 5% in viewership from Seton Hall/Georgetown last year (0.4, 492K). Creighton/Xavier earned a 0.3 and 485,000, flat and down 3%, respectively, from last year’s St. John’s Villanova matchup (0.3, 504K).
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily)
