Through the first seven days of the NCAA Tournament, CBS and Turner Sports are seeing the best viewership in over two decades.
Through Thursday, the average viewership is 9.3 million which is up 3% from last year. And that’s the highest viewership since 1993.
And the average rating is 6.0 which is up a tick from last year’s 5.9. The 6.0 rating is the highest since 1998’s 6.1 average.
We don’t have Thursday’s numbers, but it appears to be down from last year’s second Thursday.
Here’s the CBS/Turner press release.
2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Averaging 9.3 Million Total Viewers; Highest Viewership in 21 Years
Turner Sports and CBS Sports’ exclusive coverage of the 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship – across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV – is delivering its highest viewership in 21 years (since 1993). Through last night (Thursday, March 27), the NCAA Tournament is averaging 9.3 million total viewers, up 3% through the same period last year (9.0 million total viewers), based on Nielsen Fast Nationals.
The tournament is averaging a 6.0 U.S. HH rating, up 2% over a 5.9 U.S. HH rating to date in 2013. The 6.0 U.S. HH rating is the highest rating to date for the tournament in 16 years (6.1 rating in 1998).
NCAA Tournament action will continue with coverage of the Regional Semifinals tonight, Friday, March 28 (7 p.m.-midnight ET) with all games available in their entirety on TBS and CBS. Coverage will begin with the NCAA Tip-Off pregame show at 6 p.m. on TBS.
TBS will exclusively televise Saturday’s Regional Final coverage (March 29) — Florida vs. Dayton at 6:09 p.m. followed by Arizona vs. Wisconsin at 8:49 p.m. — the first time the Elite Eight will be aired on cable. CBS will exclusively broadcast Sunday’s Regional Final coverage with game coverage beginning at 2 p.m.
Source: Nielsen Media Research, Fast Nationals, Live +SD data stream through Sweet 16 Thursday of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. 3/18/14 to 03/27/14 vs. 03/19/13 to 03/28/13. 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 averages based on weighted average of 4 telecast gross across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. Historical audiences, CBS 1991 through 2005 based on Live data.
That’s all.
