I guess people want to watch college basketball this year. Even though three of its four games last night were massive blowouts, you still watched Friday’s Sweet Sixteen action in the NCAA Tournament. No wonder CBS execs are beating their chests outside their headquarters on West 57th Street in New York today. I even saw them doing Tarzan yells (ok, I made that up, but you imagine them beating their chests and doing Tarzan yells).
CBS SPORTS’ RATINGS UP FOR COVERAGE OF REGIONAL SEMI-FINALS OF 2009 NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP ON FRIDAY, MARCH 27
Tournament-to-Date Average Ratings in Metered Markets Up 10%
CBS Sports’ exclusive live coverage of the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Regional Semi-Finals from the Indianapolis and Memphis regions on Friday, March 27 (7:00 PM-12:00 AM, ET) earned an average overnight household rating/share of 6.5/12, up +20% compared to last year’s Regional Semi-Finals Friday night rating/share of 5.4/10 in the metered markets.
CBS Sports’ overall average overnight household rating/share for the Tournament-to-Date is a 5.7/12, up +10% compared to last year’s 5.2/11 in the metered markets.
CBS Sports’ first broadcast window of the night (7:00-9:30 PM, ET) featuring Louisville’s win over Arizona and Oklahoma’s victory over Syracuse earned an average overnight household rating/share of 5.7/11, up +2% from last year’s 5.6/10 (Davidson-Wisconsin and Texas-Stanford).
The second broadcast window of the night (9:30 PM-12:00 AM, ET), which saw North Carolina knock off Gonzaga and Michigan State defeat Kansas, earned an average overnight household rating/share of 7.4/13, up +42% compared to last year’s 5.2/9 (Kansas-Villanova and Memphis-Michigan State). This year’s 7.4/13 is the highest rating in this game window since a 7.9/14 in 2005.
Not bad. I still think without Duke, tonight’s ratings will be lower. If they go up, I’ll go outside my house tomorrow, beat my chest and do Tarzan yells. I’ll even take video of it. No, I won’t. Are you kidding?
