Just like Thursday, Friday’s Sweet 16 viewership soared on TBS and sank on CBS.
Friday’s NCAA men’s basketball regional semifinals on TBS — San Diego State’s upset of Alabama and 15 seed Princeton’s loss to Creighton — averaged 4.51 and 4.37 million viewers respectively, both up 71% from last year’s equivalent games (Providence-Kansas: 2.65M; Iowa State-Miami: 2.55M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Viewership soared at least two-thirds for all four Sweet 16 games on TBS.
The story was far different for CBS, which averaged a 2.9 rating and 5.15 million for Miami’s upset of Houston and a 2.7 and 4.81 million for the Texas-Xavier nightcap — both down more than 40% from last year, when Saint Peter’s upset of Purdue (5.35, 10.18M) was followed by a matchup of bluebloods between North Carolina and UCLA (4.8, 8.82M).
In sharp contrast to TBS, all four Sweet 16 games on CBS declined by at least a quarter — and three of the four declined by more than 40 percent.
As on Thursday, the TBS gains were not enough to make up for the CBS shortfall. The networks combined for 9.66 million viewers in the early window and 9.18 million in the nightcap, down 25% and 19% respectively from last year (12.83M; 11.37M) and the two least-watched Sweet 16 windows since 2016. Thursday’s windows declined 10% and 5%.
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 3.27, ShowBuzz Daily 3.27)
It’s not looking good for CBS in the TV ratings I can imagine the numbers for the final four and the championship game