Sports Ratings Tracker

Sunday’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament Selection Show averaged 6.41 million viewers on CBS, up 12% from last year and the highest since 2014.

Leading in, the Purdue-Michigan Big Ten Tournament final averaged 4.72 million — up 4% from last year (Michigan-Wisconsin: 4.53M) and officially the largest audience ever for the event. The previous high was 4.65 million for Ohio State-Wisconsin in 2013, before Nielsen began including out-of-home viewing in its estimates. (It is almost certain that all things being equal, the 2013 game would still rank higher.)

It is also possible that viewership would trail last year all things being equal. Nielsen in September shifted to a new methodology that combines “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes with its traditional panel, generally resulting in higher viewership estimates for live sports. The 4% increase is within the margin that could be explained by that change.

In Saturday’s CBS Sports Classic college basketball doubleheader, North Carolina-Ohio State averaged 1.50 million viewers and Kentucky-St. John’s 1.05 million — up 23 and 45 percent respectively from last year. While last year’s games aired opposite the NFL, this year’s aired early enough to avoid direct competition.

CBS also drew 1.04 million for Houston-Arkansas in the Never Forget Tribute Classic, which aired fully opposite the NFL.