Ratings and viewership dropped for the men’s Final Four, but Gonzaga-UCLA held up far better than Baylor-Houston.
Saturday’s Gonzaga-UCLA men’s NCAA Tournament national semifinal averaged a 7.6 rating and 14.94 million viewers on CBS, easily the highest of any non-football sporting event since the wave of cancellations and postponements that struck the industry last year. The previous highs were a 6.8 and 12.7 million for Game 6 of last year’s World Series.
It was the first basketball game to crack the ten million viewer mark since Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
Gonzaga’s buzzer-beating overtime win still declined 17% in ratings and 6% in viewership from Texas-Tech Michigan State in 2019 (9.1, 15.84M), but increased 11% and 14% respectively from Villanova-Michigan on TBS, TNT and TruTV three years ago (6.8, 13.09M).
In the early window, Baylor’s rout of Houston had a mere 4.4 and 8.18 million — easily the lowest ever for a men’s Final Four game. [Related: men’s Final Four ratings history.] Ratings plunged 42% and viewership 37% from Virginia-Auburn in ’19 (7.6, 12.97M) and 39% and 38% respectively from Michigan-Loyola (IL) on Turner in 2018 (7.2, 13.15M).
The previous lows for a men’s Final Four game were a 6.1 (Villanova’s 44-point rout of Oklahoma in 2016) and 9.90 million (Kansas-Marquette in the Iraq War-affected 2003 tournament). Keep in mind Baylor-Houston aired an hour earlier than usual (5 PM ET as opposed to 6 PM) as the NCAA built-in larger gaps between games held at the same site this year.
Between the NBA Finals, World Series and Final Four, no game prior to last year had ever averaged less than a 5.0 rating. In the past year, nine games have fallen below that mark.
In the key young adult demographics, Gonzaga-UCLA averaged a 3.7 rating in adults 18-49 (-8% from ’19), a 2.7 in 18-34 (-13%) and a 4.3 in 25-54 (-10%). Baylor-Houston had just a 1.8 in 18-49 (-40%), a 1.3 in 18-34 (-43%) and a 2.1 in 25-54 (-43%).
The lengthy bridge period between games, which included a Miley Cyrus concert, averaged more viewers (8.32M) than Baylor-Houston and had a higher rating in all three young adult demos. That is not necessarily unusual; in 2019, the half-hour bridge between games averaged better numbers than Virginia-Auburn.
Figures for Monday’s Baylor-Gonzaga National Championship will be reported when available later Tuesday.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 4.6]
