A series of wild finishes could not reverse the downward trend for NCAA Tournament ratings.
Second round coverage of the NCAA Tournament averaged a combined 6.2 overnight rating across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV Sunday, down 15% from last year (7.3) and down 14% from 2014 (7.2). Overnights dropped for all four telecast windows.
In particular, the late primetime window combined for a 5.3 overnight on TruTV, TBS and TNT — down 23% from last year (6.9) but up a tick from 2014 (5.2). Wisconsin’s buzzer-beating win over Xavier had a 1.8 on TNT (-33%), St. Joseph’s/Oregon also had a 1.8 on TBS (-10%), and Texas A&M’s comeback against Northern Iowa brought up the rear with a 1.7 on TruTV (-19%).
The early primetime window scored a 9.3 across CBS, TBS and TNT, down 13% from both last year and 2014 (10.7). VCU/Oklahoma had a 5.8 on CBS, off 16% from Kansas/Wichita State last year (6.9) and down 23% from Iowa State/North Carolina in 2014 (7.5). Hawaii/Maryland had a 2.0 on TBS (+25%) and Syracuse/Middle Tennessee State a 1.6 on TNT (-24%).
Rounding out the day’s action, Notre Dame/Stephen F. Austin scored a 5.8 on CBS — down 9% from Duke/San Diego State last year (6.4) and down 27% from Kentucky/Wichita State in 2014 (7.9). Villanova’s rout of Iowa had a 3.6, down 31% from Michigan State/Virginia last year (5.2) and down 27% from Stanford/Kansas in ’14 (4.9).
Saturday was more of a mixed draw. The early primetime window combined for a 9.2 overnight across CBS, TNT and TBS, down 11% from last year (10.3) but up 7% from 2014 (8.6). Indiana/Kentucky led the way with a 6.9* on CBS, up 10% from Arizona/Ohio State last year (6.2), up 42% from Michigan/Texas in 2014 (4.8), and the highest of the tournament for an individual game. TBS drew a 1.6 for Butler/Virginia (-31%) and TNT a 0.7 for Iowa State/Arkansas-Little Rock (-61%).
The late window combined for a 7.7 across CBS and Turner (-14%), with CBS’ Kansas/Connecticut game topping the charts at a 4.0 — actually up 8% from Georgetown/Utah last year (3.7) but down 7% from Wisconsin/Oregon in ’14 (4.3). The Jayhawks’ win topped ABC’s Warriors/Spurs NBA game head-to-head (3.7). On cable, North Carolina/Providence on TBS (2.6) and Gonzaga/Utah on TNT (1.1) were down a tick and 56%, respectively.
As for the afternoon windows, Duke/Yale scored a 5.7 (-15%) and Miami/Wichita State a 3.9 (+8%).
* Sports Business Daily reported a 6.8 for the Indiana/Kentucky game.
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily, ShowBuzz Daily)
