March Madness Viewing Is Highest In Decades
April 2, 2019
CBS Sports and Turner Sports’ coverage of the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship has delivered strong numbers across all platforms.
Live game coverage across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV is averaging a 6.7 rating and a 15% share in the metered markets, tied for the third-highest rating through the Regional Finals in 26 years. The audience is up 8% over last year.
The past weekend’s Regional Finals across TBS and CBS (7.2/15%) generated the second highest-rating for the Elite Eight since 2011, with increases across all four game windows:
Sunday’s Michigan State/Duke game (10.5/21%) produced the highest metered market delivery for the game window in 14 years, up 4% vs. 2018
Sunday’s Auburn/Kentucky (+15%) and Saturday’s Virginia/Purdue (+14%) and Texas Tech/Gonzaga (+2%) telecasts all showed lifts versus last year’s same coverage
NCAA March Madness Live has set all-time records in live streams and live hours of consumption for the NCAA Tournament to date, with both seeing increases of 30% or more through the Regional Finals.
MML has also set daily records in live hours (eight times) and live streams (five times).
Official NCAA March Madness social accounts have produced a 117% increase in engagements vs. last year’s Tournament to date through Sunday (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).
