The NCAA Tournament drew a 6.2 overnight rating yesterday across CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV, down 15% from a 7.3 overnight on the first Sunday of the event last year. Notre Dame-Stephen F. Austin on CBS was the highest-rated game yesterday in the 2:30-5:00pm ET window, drawing a 5.8 overnight. For the opening weekend, CBS’ Indiana-Kentucky on Saturday in the 5:15-7:45pm window was the highest-rated game, drawing a 6.8 overnight.
PICK-UP GAME: The tourney’s audience decline compared to last year’s record-setting numbers shrinks when using fast-national data. Through Saturday, the four-net average for all NCAA Tourney games was 8.4 million viewers, which is down around 5% from 8.8 million viewers last year, but still the third-best tourney average since CBS acquired rights to the event in ’91. While TV audiences are down from ‘15, the March Madness Live digital platform has seen record-setting NCAA Tourney numbers. There have been 47.9 million live video starts through Saturday, along with 10.9 million live hours of video consumption (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
DREADED GLITCH AWARD: In Oklahoma City, Kyle Fredrickson notes the TruTV feed of last night's Texas A&M-Northern Iowa game at Chesapeake Energy Arena "cut out and was replaced with an NCAA Tournament logo" with two minutes left in the first half. The feed "returned a short time later, but without audio" from game announcers Carter Blackburn and Mike Gminski. The studio team took over calling the action, and Charles Barkley "didn't hold back on his criticism of Oklahoma" (OKLAHOMAN, 3/21).
VOICES CARRY: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick wrote CBS must give game analyst Steve Lappas a "presence beyond early round telecasts." Few analysts "speak the game more clearly, succinctly, intelligently and honestly -- especially at crunch time." Lappas’ work Thursday during the end of Arkansas-Little Rock's upset win over Purdue was "like being in a wise coach’s huddle or head" (N.Y. POST, 3/20). In Tampa, Tom Jones writes the "best crew" calling the tourney is that of Ian Eagle, Chris Webber and Len Elmore. The three "mesh better together than the top crew" of Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill, something people should "give credit to Eagle for." They also "don't get in the way of the broadcast." They "add to the broadcast, they don't become the broadcast." Meanwhile, it may be a "rotten idea" to continue having Barkley and Kenny Smith serve as studio analysts, but they "do get credit for their honesty, and that's why, ultimately, they manage to pull it off." The "best part of the weekend" came after Indiana's win over Kentucky, as Barkley was "quick to point out that this was not one of Kentucky's more talented teams and that coach John Calipari might have done his best coaching job" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 3/21).
TWO THUMBS UP: SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote CBS and Turner's production crews did "great end of game work" Friday night after Northern Iowa beat Texas on a last-second, half-court shot. Producer Vic Frank and director Andy Goldberg were "at the top of their game, with poignant reaction shots and multiple replays of the final shot" (SI.com, 3/20).
