This just in from CBS/Turner, actually I got this on Tuesday, but due to the Denial of Service attack on the server that houses this blog (apparently, I was not the target, but this still affected me!), I wasn’t able to post this right away. Because the great people at CBS Sports and Turner Sports have been so diligent in sending me press releases regarding the NCAA Tournament, I don’t want to end my blogging for the night without posting the following information.
Almost 100 million people have watched part or all of the NCAA Tournament on the networks of CBS/Turner Sports. As you’re well aware by now, the Tournament has aired on CBS/TBS/TNT/tru TV. To be exact, 99.9 million represent an 11% increase from the viewership last year when the entire Tournament aired on CBS. It also blows away the previous high from 2005 when 95.6 million people had viewed the games through the regional finals.
Your press release.
NEARLY 100 MILLION VIEWERS WATCH CBS SPORTS’ AND TURNER SPORTS’ COVERAGE DURING FIRST TWO WEEKS OF 2011 NCAA® DIVISION I MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
An estimated 99.9 million viewers (Persons 2+) have watched all-or-part of CBS Sports’ and Turner Sports’ coverage of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship from the FIRST FOUR® on Tuesday, March 15 through the Regional Finals on Sunday, March 27, according to a Nielsen cume study. This year marked the first time that all of the games in the tournament were available nationally in their entirety on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV.
The 99.9 million viewers represent an 11% increase over 89.6 million for CBS Sports’ coverage in 2010 and is higher than any of the all-or-part viewership that occurred in the past 10 years during the first two weeks of the NCAA Tournament on CBS.
The previous high in the past 10 years was in 2005 when 95.6 million viewers watched all-or-part of the coverage in which three of the four Regional Final games on Saturday and Sunday in the second week went to overtime.
The cume study is based on Total Viewers (Persons 2+) who have watched at least six minutes of the NCAA Tournament game coverage in the first two weeks of the event.
And we are done for the night. Back in the morning.
