The penultimate win of Duke’s championship season did well for CBS on Saturday night.
Duke’s 21-point win over West Virginia drew a 9.2/17 final rating and 15.8 million viewers on CBS Saturday night, up 8% in ratings and 10% in viewership from North Carolina/Villanova last year (8.5/16, 14.5 mil), up 5% and 10%, respectively, from Kansas/North Carolina in ’08 (8.8/16, 14.4 mil), and up 3% and 10%, respectively, from Florida/UCLA in ’07 (8.9/17, 14.3 mil).
The 9.2/17 rating is the highest for the late National Semifinal since 2005, when North Carolina/Michigan St. drew a 10.9/19.
Saturday’s game finished as the #4 primetime program of the week on broadcast in total viewers and adults 18-49, behind only Dancing With the Stars and American Idol.
Of the 24 National Semifinal telecasts since ’99, Duke/West Virginia is tied as the 9th highest-rated.
For perspective, the game drew more viewers than the Orange (10.9 mil), Sugar (15.5 mil) and Fiesta (13.8 mil) bowls, Games 1 (13.0 mil), 2 (14.1 mil), 3 (14.2 mil) and 5 (14.2 mil) of the NBA Finals, Game 3 of the World Series (15.4 mil) and the Daytona 500 (13.3 mil).
