CBS earned a 12.9 overnight rating for UConn’s 60-54 win over Kentucky in the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game from 9:15-11:30pm ET. That figure is down 10% from Louisville’s win over Michigan last year, which drew a 14.5 overnight. However, last night’s game, which featured zero lead changes, is up 7% from a 12.1 overnight for Kentucky-Kansas in ’12. The 12.9 overnight is down from a 13.3 overnight for UConn's last title in '11, but up from the school's win over Georgia Tech in '04, which remains the lowest-rated championship game on record. UConn-Kentucky peaked at a 14.3 rating from 11:00-11:30pm last night. Louisville led all markets with a 47.5 local rating, followed by Hartford-New Haven with a 33.0 rating. Three Ohio markets rounded out the top five. Cincinnati earned a 28.9 local rating, followed by Dayton (23.2) and Columbus (22.2).
| NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME OVERNIGHT RATING TREND |
| YEAR | NETWORK | RATING | MATCHUP |
| '14 | CBS | 12.9 | UConn-Kentucky |
| '13 | CBS | 14.3 | Louisville-Michigan |
| '12 | CBS | 12.1 | Kentucky-Kansas |
| '11 | CBS | 13.3 | UConn-Butler |
| '10 | CBS | 16.0 | Duke-Butler |
| '09 | CBS | 11.9 | North Carolina-Michigan State |
| '08 | CBS | 12.8 | Kansas-Memphis |
| '07 | CBS | 13.6 | Florida-Ohio State |
| '06 | CBS | 11.7 | Florida-UCLA |
| '05 | CBS | 16.0 | North Carolina-Illinois |
| '04 | CBS | 11.2 | UConn-Georgia Tech |
| '03 | CBS | 12.6 | Syracuse-Kansas |
| '02 | CBS | 15.8 | Maryland-Indiana |
| '01 | CBS | 15.3 | Duke-Arizona |
