The final rating and viewership numbers are in for the Opening Night FIRST FOUR® NCAA Tournament doubleheader for Tuesday. truTV averaged a 0.85 rating for the two games which is slightly better than the 0.8 rating for the Winthrop/Arkansas-Pine Bluff Opening Round game last year on ESPN.
Overall, the two games featuring UNC-Asheville/Arkansas-Little Rock and Clemson/UAB had a total audience of 2.6 million people. The total rating for the two games was a 1.7 which truTV is quite happy about. Here’s the press release from Turner Sports.
truTV TIPS OFF THE 2011 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP DELIVERING A COMBINED AUDIENCE OF 2.6 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS AND A 1.7 U.S. HH RATING FOR FIRST TWO GAMES OF INAUGURAL ‘FIRST FOUR’
truTV tipped off the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship with a FIRST FOUR doubleheader airing in primetime. The network’s coverage delivered a combined audience of 2.6 million total viewers and a 1.7 U.S. HH rating for the first two games of the tournament, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals. Game #1 featured UNC Asheville vs. Arkansas-Little Rock (6:30 p.m. – 9:24 p.m. ET) and delivered a 0.8 U.S. HH rating and 1,200,000 total viewers, while Game #2 featured Clemson vs. UAB (9:45 p.m. – 12:02 a.m. ET) and delivered a 0.9 U.S. HH rating and 1,354,000 total viewers.
Last year’s opening round tournament game featuring Winthrop vs. Arkansas Pine-Bluff delivered a 0.8 U.S. HH rating and 1,053,000 total viewers.
truTV’s coverage will continue tonight at 6 p.m. (ET) with NCAA Tip-Off, followed at 6:30 p.m. (ET) with the University of Texas at San Antonio vs. Alabama State, followed at 9 p.m. (ET) with the University of Southern California vs. Virginia Commonwealth University. Gus Johnson (play-by-play) and Len Elmore (analyst) will be on the call with Marty Snider reporting. NCAA studio host Matt Winer will be joined by analysts Steve Smith, Seth Davis and Tom Crean for the pre-game show and will conclude the evening with Inside March Madness.
Source: Nielsen Media Research. Based on Live+SD. 2011 NCAA First Four on truTV based on Nielsen Fast National data (03/15/2011). truTV network 6:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. Live+SD / Live +7 Blend data time period average for 2011 year to-date (12-27-10 to 03-14-2011). Final Live + SD data for 2010 Play-In Game on ESPN, Winthrop vs. Arkansas Pine-Bluff (03/16/2010).
That is all.
