Elite Eight Overnight Ratings Up on CBS, TBS

Elite Eight Overnights Second-Best Since ’11, Led By MSU-Duke

A memorable Elite Eight weekend delivered in the overnight ratings.

Sunday’s Michigan State-Duke NCAA Tournament regional final earned a 10.5 overnight rating on CBS, up 4% from last year (Kansas-Duke: 10.1) and up 11% from 2017 (North Carolina-Kentucky: 9.5).

The Spartans’ narrow win delivered the highest Elite Eight overnight since 2005, when Michigan State-Kentucky had a 10.8. As noted by Sports Business Daily, no other Elite Eight game has had a higher overnight since 1990, when UNLV-Loyola Marymount had a 12.4.

It also scored the highest college basketball overnight since the 2017 national championship game (UNC-Gonzaga: 14.5), topping last year’s Villanova-Michigan title game (10.3).

Earlier Sunday, Auburn-Kentucky delivered a 7.1 overnight — up 15% from last year (Villanova-Texas Tech: 6.2) and up 11% from 2017 (South Carolina-Florida: 6.4). The 7.1 is the highest for the early Sunday regional final since 2015 (Michigan State-Louisville: 7.6), and the second-highest since 2011.

On Saturday, Virginia-Purdue scored a 6.6 on TBS — up 14% from both last year (Michigan-Florida State: 5.8) and 2017 (Oregon-Kansas: 5.8), and the highest for the late Saturday regional final since 2016 on CBS (Villanova-Kansas: 7.4).

The 6.6 is tied as the second-highest for an Elite Eight game on cable, matching North Carolina-Notre Dame in 2016 and behind only Kentucky-Notre Dame in 2015 (9.0).

Finally, Texas Tech-Gonzaga brought up the rear with a 5.0 — up a tick from last year (Loyola Chicago-Kansas State: 4.9) and up 25% from Gonzaga-Xavier in 2017 (4.0). The 5.0 is the highest for the early Saturday regional final since 2016 on CBS (Oklahoma-Oregon: 5.1).

The full Elite Eight averaged a 7.2 overnight rating on CBS and TBS, the highest since 2015 (8.0).

In other action, Friday’s Sweet Sixteen games averaged a combined 8.5 overnight across CBS and TBS, up 27% from last year and the second-highest average since 1990.

The complete NCAA Tournament is averaging a 6.7 in the metered markets, up 8% from last year (6.2) and the highest since 2015 (7.2). The 6.7 is the third-highest average through the Elite Eight since 1993.

[Numbers from CBS/Turner, Sports Business Daily 4.1, March Madness TV/Twitter 3.30]

Ratings Predictions: Elite Eight & More

Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

Oklahoma City, OK - June 4, 2026 - Devon Park: Leighann Goode (43) of the University of Texas Longhorns during game two of the best-of-three 2026 Women's College World Series championship.
(Photo by Joshua R. Gateley / ESPN Images)

Texas two-step: Longhorn clincher sets WCWS mark for second-straight year

by Jon Lewis

2 weeks ago

The Women's College World Series ended with its largest audience yet for a second-straight year.

News: March Madness expansion, Russell Wilson, Nexstar and more

by Derek Futterman

1 month ago

The NCAA basketball tournaments are officially expanding to 76 teams; Russell Wilson is mulling between playing football and starting...

Michigan celebrates after defeating UConn in the NCAA college basketball tournament national championship game at the Final Four, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

NCAA men’s title game audience up despite move from broadcast to cable

by Jon Lewis

2 months ago

Perhaps it is too early to write the obituaries for championship sporting events on cable. Monday's Michigan-UConn NCAA men's...

Phoenix, AZ - April 5, 2026 - Mortgage Matchup Center: during the 2026 NCAA Women's Final Four championship game.
(Photo by Jeremy Chen / ESPN Images)

Women’s title game gets Easter bounce as Bruin beatdown nears ten million

by Jon Lewis

2 months ago

Easter Sunday continues to fuel milestone sports viewership, as the NCAA women's basketball national championship entered rare territory despite...

Comments 3

Nate Johnson says:

7 years ago

Last night, Magic Johnson said College Basketball won after his alma mater, the Spartans of Michigan St., defeated Duke. I believe he’s right when setting up for the long term . Short term it’s a huge hit. No Zion and the Dukies in the Final Four? That’s tough on many levels. I just don’t see a great Final Four rating day for CBS standards after that and it will be tough for ESPN to chip in any interest that CBS/Turner has to rely on before the weekend.
Jeff says:

7 years ago

The power of Duke was on full display here. That said, I think there is plenty remaining among these Final Four teams that should make for continued strong ratings. I never thought it was solely a case of viewers either admiring Duke or watching to see if they’d go down. If the semifinals and title game are reasonably close, look for multi-year highs.
- Paulsen says:
  
  7 years ago
  
  I think ratings will definitely be up from last year (TBS), but I can’t see multi-year highs. 2017 Final Four did pretty well. Of course that year there were a bunch of unusual teams too, so you never know.