CBS Sports and Turner Sports' coverage of the 2017 NCAA Tournament is delivering strong audience growth through its first two weeks with fans engaging across television - up double-digits in viewership - record-setting streaming on NCAA March Madness Live and all-time records for interactions by fans across social platforms.
The NCAA Tournament to date is averaging 9.8 million viewers through Sunday's Regional Finals, up 10% from last year (8.9 million), making it the third most-watched tournament in 24 years. In addition, the NCAA Tournament is averaging a 6.0/13 rating/share, up +9% from 2016 (5.5/12).
This weekend's Regional Finals on
TBS (Saturday) and
CBS (Sunday) averaged 10.2 million viewers and a 6.0/13 rating/share, both up +11% respectively from last year (9.2 million viewers and 5.4/11 rating/share).
Sunday's Regional Final thriller between North Carolina and Kentucky was watched by an average of 15.5 million viewers, making it the second most watched Regional Final game (Saturday or Sunday) since 2005 (17.9 million viewers). The game peaked with 22.1 million viewers from 7:15-7:30 PM, ET. The Kentucky vs. North Carolina game is up +5% from the comparable game window on
CBS in 2015 (Duke-Gonzaga).
In addition, NCAA March Madness Live has generated an all-time record 88 million live video streams during this year's tournament, an increase of 31% over last year. Engagement across official March Madness social media handles continues to increase, garnering 53.5 million engagements through Sunday for an increase of 75% over last year.
Linear TV Source: Nielsen Media Research, based on Live + SD data stream, Fast Nationals for the 2017 NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament across CBS, TBS,
TNT and truTV, through Elite 8 round compared historical NCAA Tournament through 1991. Digital metrics: Conviva.
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