The final ratings for Saturday’s session of the NCAA Tournament are out. Once again the ratings are up. Once again, overall viewership is up. Once again, CBS/Turner is crowing about the ratings which ended up being a 5.9/14, up 9% from last year’s 5.4/13. Yesterday’s games were shown on CBS/TBS/TNT and there was plenty of buzz especially following the Butler-Pittsburgh game which had sports fans talking on social media.
For the Tournament, CBS/Turner says the average rating is 5.1/12, up 11% from last year when CBS aired the games all by its lonesome. We have the press release for you.
THE 2011 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP ON TBS, CBS, TNT AND truTV CONTINUES TO SCORE WITH 11% OVERALL RATINGS GROWTH THROUGH SATURDAY
Tournament Coverage Averaging 7.828 Million Total Viewers, Up 12% Over 2010
Saturday’s Third-Round Coverage Delivers 11% Growth in Total ViewersCBS Sports’ and Turner Sports’ exclusive coverage of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV combined, continues to deliver strong ratings growth. The overall tournament average-to-date, including the FIRST FOUR, is a 5.1/12, up +11% from a 4.6/11 for CBS Sports’ 2010 coverage according to Nielsen Fast Nationals. CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV averaged 7.828 million total viewers, up +12% over CBS Sports’ 7.007 million total viewers in 2010.
Coverage on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV on Saturday, March 19 combined to deliver an average fast national household rating/share of 5.9 U.S. HH rating/14 share, up +9% over CBS Sports’ 5.4/13 in 2010. The networks also averaged 9.3 million total viewers, up +11% over CBS Sports’ 8.4 million total viewers in 2010.
The overall tournament average-to-date continues to deliver double-digit growth in key adult and male demos over 2010, including:
- A18-34 +10% (2,065,000 vs. 1,883,000)
- A18-49 +14% (4,371,000 vs. 3,842,000)
- A25-54 +12% (4,639,000 vs. 4,150,000)
- M18-34 +15% (1,442,000 vs. 1,259,000)
- M18-49 +17% (3,103,000 vs. 2,644,000)
- M25-54 +14% (3,280,000 vs. 2,876,000)
Source: Nielsen Media Research, based on Fast National Data, Live +SD data stream. 2011 NCAA Tournament Dates, include First Four telecast gross. Dates of NCAA Tournament: 2011 3/15/11 – 3/18/11 vs 2010 3/18/10 – 3/19/10. 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. 2006 through 2010 based on Live + SD. 2003 based on CBS / ESPN average of First Round.
More coming up later.
