Final Four Viewership Down, But Up From '16

Final Four viewership could not measure up to last year on CBS, but outpaced the last time coverage aired on cable.

Saturday’s Michigan-Loyola (Chicago) NCAA Tournament national semifinal had a 7.2 rating and 13.15 million viewers across TBS, TNT and TruTV, down 15% in ratings and 10% in viewership from last year on CBS (Gonzaga-SC: 8.5, 14.7M) and but up 17% and 26% respectively from 2016 on the Turner networks (Villanova-Oklahoma: 6.1, 10.5M).

Including the streaming audience on March Madness Live, the game had 13.4 million viewers. Last year’s comparable TV+streaming figure was not available.

The Wolverines’ win, which peaked with 18 million TV viewers from 8-8:15 PM ET, was the third-least watched early semifinal game since 2009 (MSU-UConn: 12.6M). It ranks ahead of Villanova-Oklahoma in ’16 and UConn-Florida in 2014 (11.7M).

Compared to the previous Final Four games to feature a #11 seed, viewership fell 5% from VCU’s 2011 loss to Butler (14.2M) and 7% from George Mason’s 2006 loss to Florida (14.5M).

Despite the lower numbers, it was the first early semifinal to outdraw the late window since 2006.

The Villanova-Kansas nightcap scored a 6.8 and 13.09 million, down 34% in ratings and 30% in viewership from last year on CBS (UNC-Oregon: 10.4, 18.8M). Compared to 2016 on the Turner networks (UNC-Syracuse), ratings fell 6% (from 7.3) but viewership increased 1% (from 12.9M).

Adding in the streaming audience on March Madness Live, the game had 13.3 million.

The Wildcats’ win was the lowest rated late semifinal game in at least 20 years and the second-least watched since 2006 (UCLA-LSU: 13.1M). Viewership peaked at 14.6 million from 9:30-9:45 PM ET, during the first half. By the end of the blowout, the audience had fallen to 9.6 million.

Overall, this year’s national semifinals rank among the five lowest rated since at least 1996. Five of the seven lowest rated games over that span have aired on cable.