Day one of the NCAA Tournament was a mixed bag in the ratings.
The first half of Thursday’s primetime NCAA Tournament doubleheader grossed 10.49 million viewers across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV, up 1% from last year (10.37M) and up 2% from 2017 (10.32M). It was the most-watched day one window since 2015.
CBS led the way with 3.76 million viewers for Kentucky-Abilene Christian, but that was down 37% from last year (Kentucky-Davidson: 5.92M) and 11% from 2017 (Villanova-Mount St. Mary’s: 4.24M). Turner picked up the slack, with Florida-Nevada up 145% on TNT (to 3.13M) and Villanova-St. Mary’s up 64% on TBS (to 2.91M).
TruTV brought up the rear with 697,000 for Gonzaga-Fairleigh Dickinson, down 50% from both last year (Texas Tech-Stephen F. Austin: 1.41M) and 2017 (Purdue-Vermont: 1.40M).
Later in the night, the four networks combined for 9.40 million viewers — down 2% from both last year (9.56M) and 2017 (9.57M). It was the least-watched primetime window on the opening Thursday since 2014.
CBS led the way with 3.96 million for Wofford-Seton Hall, marking the most-watched game of the night, but that was down 8% from last year (Buffalo-Arizona: 4.29M) and down 16% from 2017 (Wisconsin-Virginia Tech: 4.71M). Viewership also declined 22% for Purdue-Old Dominion on TBS (1.48M) and 21% for Michigan-Montana on TNT (1.95M).
TruTV was the lone bright spot with 2.01 million for Baylor-Syracuse, up 122% from last year (Florida-St. Bonaventure: 908K) and up 74% from 2017 (Iowa State-Nevada: 1.16M). It delivered the fourth-largest audience for a first or second round game on the network.
Shifting to the daytime, Murray State-Marquette was the top afternoon game on cable with 2.41 million viewers on TBS — up 53% from last year (Seton Hall-NC State: 1.57M) and up 19% from 2017 (Northwestern-Vanderbilt: 2.02M). Kansas-Northeastern ranked second with 1.14 million (-35%).
LSU-Yale was the least-watched game of the day, with just 691,000 viewers, but that represented a 61% increase over last year (Tennessee-Wright State: 430K).
Figures for afternoon windows on CBS were not immediately available. CBS and Turner did not disclose full averages for Thursday’s play.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 3.22]
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