It took just one game into this year’s NCAA Tournament for Duke to set a viewership mark.
Friday’s Duke-North Dakota State NCAA Tournament first round game delivered 6.22 million viewers on CBS, up 38% from last year (Michigan State-Bucknell: 4.52M) and up 34% from 2017 (Wichita State-Dayton: 4.65M). Ratings were not immediately available.
The Blue Devils’ win ranks as the most-watched first round NCAA Tournament game since the current television format began in 2011. The previous high was 5.925 million for Duke’s upset loss to Lehigh in 2012.
The full telecast window grossed 10.73 million across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV, up 10% from last year (9.73M) and up 12% from 2017 (9.56M). Washington-Utah State ranked second in the window with 1.78 million on TBS (-19%), followed by Liberty-Mississippi State on TruTV (1.53M, +0.1%) and Houston-Georgia State on TNT (1.19M, -20%).
In the nightcap, the four networks grossed 9.87 million (+3%). CBS led the way with 3.36 million for UCF-VCU, down 11% from last year (Syracuse-TCU: 3.79M) and down 17% from 2017 (Kentucky-Northern Kentucky: 4.06M).
North Carolina-Iona ranked second with 3.0 million on TNT, down 15% from UMBC’s historic upset of Virginia in the same window last year (3.53M), but up 31% from 2017 (Michigan State-Miami: 2.30M).
TBS and TruTV both posted increases, with Ohio State-Iowa State up 81% to 2.61 million, and Virginia Tech-Saint Louis up 6% to 891,000.
Shifting to the daytime, Oregon-Wisconsin was the top afternoon game on cable with 2.75 million viewers on TBS — up 51% from last year (Nevada-Texas: 1.83M), and up 43% from 2017 (Creighton-Rhode Island: 1.92M). Virginia-Gardner Webb ranked second with 1.16 million on TruTV (+2%).
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 3.25]
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