Fewer viewers tuned into a non-traditional men’s Final Four, but the unexpected pairing of San Diego State and FAU delivered a ratings bump.
Saturday’s NCAA men’s basketball national semifinals averaged 12.34 million viewers on CBS, down 17% from last year on TBS, TNT and TruTV but up 2% from 2021. Through the Final Four, the men’s tournament was averaging a combined 9.35 million viewers per window across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV — down 7% from last year but up 5% from 2021.
San Diego State-Florida Atlantic opened the Saturday slate with a 6.0 rating and 11.90 million viewers, up 5% in ratings and 2% in viewership from Kansas-Villanova on TBS, TNT and TruTV last year (5.75, 11.70M) and the most-watched early national semifinal since 2019 (Virginia-Auburn: 7.6, 13.0M).
Keep in mind that it was the first of those games to air in the traditional 6 PM ET window on CBS since that 2019 game (last year’s game aired on cable, the 2021 game had an earlier-than-usual start, and there was no game three years ago).
The Aztecs’ buzzer-beating win, which peaked with 17.19 million viewers, was no match for the previous mid-major semifinal — Butler-VCU in a different era of television 12 years ago (14.19M).
Later in the night, UConn’s rout of Miami averaged a 6.4 and 12.85 million — down 26% in ratings and 27% in viewership from last year’s titanic matchup of North Carolina and Duke (8.6, 17.66M) and the least-watched late national semifinal since the Iraq War-affected tournament 20 years ago (Syracuse-Texas: 12.57M). The 6.4 rating is the lowest on record for the late semifinal.
The Huskies’ win nonetheless ranks third in viewership among all basketball games over the past year, behind Games 5 and 6 of the NBA Finals.
As one would expect, even with record viewership for the women’s title game on Sunday, both national semifinals surpassed the audience for LSU’s win over Iowa.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 4.4, network PR)
Who needs blue bloods? People will watch no matter what.
They didn’t watch this one.
Exactly