A time and network change sank ratings for the Elite Eight Sunday.
North Carolina/Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight earned a 5.8 final rating and 10.1 million viewers on TBS Sunday night, down 35% in ratings and 31% in viewership from Duke/Gonzaga last year (8.9, 14.7M) and down the same amount from Kentucky/Michigan in 2014 (8.9, 14.6M), both of which were afternoon games on CBS.
Compared to the last time Elite Eight games took place on Easter Sunday, ratings dropped 34% and viewership 35% from Louisville/Duke in 2013 (8.8, 15.6M).
The 5.8 rating is the lowest for the late Sunday Elite Eight window since at least 1998, falling nearly a full point below the previous mark of 6.7 for Texas/Michigan State in 2003. The window topped an 8.0 rating in six of the previous eight years.
Though low overall, the Tar Heels’ win tied the fourth-highest rating ever for college basketball on a single cable network — matching Wisconsin/Arizona in the 2014 Elite Eight. The only games to do better all took place last year: Kentucky/Notre Dame in the Elite Eight (8.4) and Wisconsin/Kentucky (9.0) and Duke/Michigan State (6.3) in the Final Four.
It also scored the fifth-largest audience for college hoops on a single cable net, behind last year’s games and Kentucky/Wisconsin in 2014 Final Four (10.4M).
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily)
