The dearth of upsets throughout the first week of the NCAA Match led to discourse about whether or not NIL and the switch portal are hurting the game in the long term.
None of that stopped the match from hitting some file numbers for viewership.
The primary two rounds of the match averaged 9.4 million viewers per recreation throughout CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV — the very best common viewers for the primary week since 1993, in accordance with Nielsen on Tuesday. That was up by 4 % on final yr’s mark of 9.04 million.
The match set an opening-day file Thursday by averaging 9.1 million viewers, per Nielsen. The momentum continued into the Spherical of 32 with a median viewership of 10.2 million over the weekend, making it the most-watched Spherical of 32 since 2017.
A part of the equation: In 2020, Nielsen started counting out-of-home viewership at institutions equivalent to eating places and sports activities bars. The variety of high-profile packages enjoying — together with Duke, Kentucky, UCLA and UConn — may additionally have contributed together with a high-interest matchup Saturday between Rick Pitino’s St. John’s squad and John Calipari’s victorious Arkansas Razorbacks.
Kentucky’s second-round win over Illinois on Sunday drew a median of 15.3 million viewers, Nielsen discovered.
The First 4 spherical (the quartet of play-in video games on Tuesday and Wednesday) additionally did a file 7.4 million viewers on TruTV.
–Subject Stage Media