With the national championship hitting an all-time record-low, NCAA Tournament ratings took a hit on CBS and Turner.
The 2018 NCAA Tournament averaged a combined 5.8 rating per window across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV, tying 2016 as the lowest average for the event since 2009 (5.7). The tournament averaged 9.7 million viewers on TV — down 11% from last year (10.8M) but up 3% from 2016 (9.4M) — and 10.0 million with streaming included.
Ratings and viewership were dragged down by steep declines for the Final Four and National Championship, both of which aired on cable. Those three games averaged a 7.7 and 14.1 million across TBS, TNT and TruTV, down 28% in ratings and 25% in viewership from last year on CBS (10.7, 18.8M). Compared to 2016 on the same Turner networks, ratings fell 4% (from 8.0) but viewership increased 3% (from 13.7M).
Of the 28* total telecast windows, 19 posted a decline in ratings and 20 did so in viewership. Of the 67 individual games, 42 declined in ratings and 41 declined in viewership.
The Villanova-Michigan national championship was the most-watched game of the tournament with 16.0 million viewers, but only tied as the highest rated — matching Kansas-Duke in the Elite Eight. The opening round game between Tennessee and Wright State was the lowest rated and least-watched, with a 0.3 and 430,000 on TruTV March 15.
* CBS and Turner consider the four “First Four” games as one telecast window.
[Averages compiled by SMW; TV+streaming average from Sports Business Daily 4.4]
