Despite the absence of Cinderella, this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament is off to a stellar start.
Through the second round of March Madness, CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV are averaging 9.4 million viewers per window, making this year’s tournament the most-watched in 32 years. The tournament is up 4% in viewership versus this point last season (9.04 million viewers across the four networks).
Of course, the record-setting viewership figures come with the significant caveat that this is the first tournament Nielsen has measured using its updated out-of-home methodology. The new methods cover 100% of U.S. markets, up from just two-thirds of the markets under the old system. That discrepancy is more than enough to account for a low single-digit year-over-year increase as we’ve seen this season.
TNT Sports and CBS Sports are Delivering the NCAA Tournament’s Best Viewership Since 1993, Averaging 9.4 Million Viewers Through the Second Round pic.twitter.com/mOfcKtg7wC
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) March 25, 2025
Nevertheless, it’s clear that interest in this year’s tournament is strong. Sunday’s games, in particular, posted strong viewership with marquee teams like Duke and Kentucky leading to a 13% increase from last year.
Sunday’s thriller between Florida and UConn in the early standalone window on CBS averaged 7.8 million viewers, the most-watched NCAA Tournament game in that time slot since 1998. Duke-Baylor, which immediately followed Florida’s win, averaged 9.6 million viewers on CBS.
Strong viewership through the first four days of the tournament would seem to dispel any theories that a lack of Cinderella is having any adverse effect on viewership. In fact, it likely means the opposite.
With a Sweet 16 filled with high-ranking teams and blue bloods, CBS Sports and TNT Sports are likely to see more large audiences as we enter the second weekend of March Madness.
