In year one on cable, not even one of the greatest finishes in basketball history could save ratings for the National Championship Game.
Monday’s Villanova/North Carolina NCAA Tournament National Championship Game delivered a 10.6 rating and 17.8 million viewers across TBS, TNT and TruTV, according to Nielsen fast-nationals — down 34% in ratings and 37% in viewership from Duke/Wisconsin last year (16.0, 28.3M) and down 15% and 16%, respectively, from Connecticut/Kentucky in 2014 (12.4, 21.2M).
The 10.6 rating is the lowest ever for the National Championship, falling below the previous mark of 10.8 for North Carolina’s last appearance against Michigan State in 2009. This year marks just the second time that ratings for the game have fallen below the 11.0 mark.
While ratings hit an all-time low, viewership was only the fourth-lowest ever for the title game — ahead of 2009 (17.6M), Florida/UCLA in 2006 (17.5M) and Connecticut/Georgia Tech in 2004 (17.1M).
Though low overall, Monday’s game scored the second-highest rating and viewership ever for college basketball on cable television. Last year’s Wisconsin/Kentucky national semifinal holds the top spot with a 12.4 and 22.6 million. Excluding football games, the national championship ranks as the third-most watched sporting event in cable history — behind Wisconsin/Kentucky and United States/Portugal in the 2014 World Cup (18.2M).
The Wildcats’ win peaked at a 13.2 rating and 22.3 million viewers from 11:15-11:30 PM ET, the dramatic conclusion that saw UNC G Marcus Paige tie the game with a three and Villanova F Kris Jenkins win it at the buzzer with a three of his own. According to Turner Sports, the peak audience was 51% higher than at the start of the game.
Compared to other sporting events, Monday’s game topped every game of last year’s World Series but trailed five of the six games of last year’s NBA Finals. It also ranked well behind the Alabama/Clemson college football title game on the ESPN family of networks (15.0, 26.2M) and drew fewer viewers than Alabama/Michigan State in the semifinals — the New Year’s Eve night game that infamously plunged 34 percent (18.6M).
(Mon. numbers from Turner Sports)
