While the Villanova-North Carolina NCAA Tournament Championship Game delivered on the court, it took a hit in the ratings battle, as expected. Over TBS, TNT, and truTV, the game drew a 12.0 overnight, down 30% from CBS’s 17.1 last year.
TBS/TNT/truTV drew 12.0 overnight rating for Villanova-UNC. CBS got 17.1 in 2015, 12.9 in 2014. 2016 not lowest title game rating though
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) April 5, 2016
The game didn’t even earn the label of “most-watched college basketball game on cable ever”, as it still lagged behind last year’s Wisconsin-Kentucky semifinal on Turner’s networks.
12.0 overnight for Villanova-UNC marks 2nd best college hoops audience ever on cable TV, behind 13.3 for 2015 Wisconsin-Kentucky semifinal
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) April 5, 2016
However, and this is a big caveat, streaming was through the roof for this year’s game – 3.4 million live streams were active, consuming 1.1 million live minutes, more than twice the amount from last year’s game.
March Madness Live saw 3.4 million live video streams for Villanova-UNC, up from 2015. 1.1 million live hours of video consumption (+112%)
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) April 5, 2016
These drops aren’t exactly a shock, given that the game aired exclusively on cable and that last year’s tournament was a record breaker for CBS and Turner. However, given how incredible the game was, it’s a little disappointing to see that more people didn’t tune in.
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