CBS and Turner Sports averaged 10.5 million total viewers per window during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this year, marking the second-best figure for the event since '05. The total viewership is a combined audience for all games in a select time slot across all nets airing games (i.e. truTV+TBS+TNT+CBS in an early Thursday afternoon window). The '14 figure trails only the record-setting 10.7 million viewers for last year’s tourney. Looking at per-game viewership across 67 telecasts (excluding Teamcasts), Turner and CBS averaged 4.24 million viewers this year, down from 4.45 million for the same number of telecasts in '13, but up from 4.05 million in '12. The first year of the Turner-CBS relationship in '11 averaged 4.28 million viewers. Highlights from this year’s tourney include the most-viewed First Four on record for truTV, as well as TBS having the four best college basketball audiences ever on cable TV. CBS’ Kentucky-Michigan Regional Final was the most-watched non-championship telecast for the ’14 event with 14.6 million viewers. Since the CBS-Turner partnership began in ’11, that audience ranks No. 6 overall among non-championship telecasts.
DOGS & CATS
: CBS earned a 12.4 fast-national rating and 21.2 million viewers for Monday’s UConn-Kentucky national championship game, down 11% and 10%, respectively, from a 14.0 rating and 23.4 million viewers for Louisville’s win over Michigan last year. The audience decline for the championship comes as the Final Four migrated to cable for the first time this year, leading to some questions over the amount of promotion for the title game. However, Monday’s game is up from Kentucky and UConn’s previous title wins in '12 and '11, respectively. The Kentucky-Kansas title game in '12 drew a 12.3 rating and 20.9 million viewers, while UConn-Butler in '11 drew an 11.7 rating and 20.1 million viewers. UConn-Kentucky peaked with a 14.2 rating and 24.3 million viewers from 11:00-11:24pm (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
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NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TREND ON CBS
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YEAR
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RATING
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VIEWERS (000)
|
MATCHUP |
|
'14
|
12.4
|
21,200
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UConn-Kentucky |
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'13
|
14.0
|
23,426
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Louisville-Michigan |
|
'12
|
12.3
|
20,869
|
Kentucky-Kansas |
|
'11
|
11.7
|
20,055
|
UConn-Butler |
|
'10
|
14.2
|
23,944
|
Duke-Butler |
|
'09
|
10.8
|
17,649
|
North Carolina-Michigan State |
|
'08
|
12.1
|
19,501
|
Kansas-Memphis |
|
'07
|
12.2
|
19,563
|
Florida-Ohio State |
|
'06
|
11.2
|
17,543
|
Florida-UCLA |
|
'05
|
15.0
|
23,895
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North Carolina-Illinois |
|
|
|
|
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TEAMCAST TENDENCIES: In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley wrote it is "interesting" to examine how different the Final Four Teamcasts were to the main telecast based off of a play in the Kentucky-Wisconsin game. The play occurred with about five minutes left in the first half, when UK F Dakari Johnson and UW F Frank Kaminsky "mixed it up." As Johnson "was backing Kaminsky down in the post, Kaminsky reached and raked his right arm into the ball trying to dislodge it." He was whistled for a foul. Johnson "continued to play on and tried to hoist a shot." Then Johnson "extended his right arm, shoved Kaminsky in the face [and he] went down partly in an effort to sell Johnson’s shove." All three announcing crews "expected a flagrant foul to be called or talked about the infraction in terms of flagrant one or two, neither of which was called." UK teamcast announcer Rex Chapman said of the play, "There is nothing there whatsoever. In fact, I think Kaminsky was pulling back a little bit." But UW teamcast announcer Mike Kelley said, "It looks to me like Johnson gives him some extra shove. I don’t think there is any doubt about that." On the main telecast, Greg Anthony and Steve Kerr "disagreed on whether Johnson was guilty of an infraction" (
JSONLINE.com, 4/8).
YOUTH MOVEMENT FOR ESPN? Media writer Ed Sherman cited sources as saying that outgoing ESPN college basketball analyst Digger Phelps' contract "wasn't renewed by ESPN" as opposed to Phelps leaving on his own. Given what "happened to Brent Musburger, who at 74 got moved over from the being the main voice of college football on ESPN to a lower profile role as lead play-by-play man for the new SEC Network, and now with Phelps, it does beg the question of whether the network is looking to get younger." Sherman reported he has "been told not to read anything into the moves involving Musburger and Phelps," as it "is 'timing' as much as anything else" (SHERMANREPORT.com, 4/8). Meanwhile, in N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes despite ESPN's "denials that Bobby Knight had a diminished role on ESPN this college basketball season, his role -- or at least his presence -- was diminished, so much so it would be surprising if he returned" (N.Y. POST, 4/6).
