HOUSTON, TEXAS – APRIL 04: Daniel Ochefu #23 of the Villanova Wildcats and Ryan Arcidiacono #15 hoist the trophy after the Villanova Wildcats defeat the North Carolina Tar Heels 77-74 to win the 2016 NCAA Men’s Final Four National Championship game at NRG Stadium on April 4, 2016 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
By Joe Lucia on

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.

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.

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.

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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About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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