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Transition Game: NCAA Title Game Draws Lowest TV Rating Ever In First Time On Cable

Villanova-North Carolina produced historically low TV ratings for the NCAA Tournament championship game, as the 10.6 fast national rating is down 34% from Duke-Wisconsin last year and the lowest rating ever posted for the game, which was carried on TBS, TNT and truTV. This year's game marked the first time the final game was held on cable and that clearly dragged down the numbers despite one of the most exciting endings in tournament history. The game drew 17.8 million viewers, but that is down 37% from '15 and marks the game's fourth-lowest viewership ever. The least-viewed title game remains UConn-Georgia Tech from '04 with 17.1 million viewers. Last year's game pulled a 16.0 rating and 28.3 million viewers. The breakdown for Monday's game saw 13.9 million viewers watch on TBS, while TNT drew 3.1 million viewers for the North Carolina Team Stream and truTV drew 772,000 viewers for the Villanova Team Stream. Despite the drop, Monday night’s game ranks as the second-best college hoops audience in the history of cable TV, behind only the Wisconsin-Kentucky Final Four game last year, which also aired across TBS, TNT and truTV. Next year's Final Four and championship game will be carried by CBS, and Turner Sports is scheduled to have both again in '18 (Ourand & Karp, THE DAILY). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Steven Perlberg notes there was "much debate" heading into the title game about whether a cable network "could draw the same audience as a broadcast network" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/6).

NCAA TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP AUDIENCE TREND
YEAR
NETWORK(S)
RATING
VIEWERS (000)
MATCHUP
'16
TBS/TNT/truTV
10.6
17,752
Villanova-North Carolina
'15
CBS
16.0
28,263
Duke-Wisconsin
'14
CBS
12.4
21,196
UConn-Kentucky
'13
CBS
14.0
23,426
Louisville-Michigan
'12
CBS
12.3
20,869
Kentucky-Kansas
'11
CBS
11.7
20,055
UConn-Butler
'10
CBS
14.2
23,944
Duke-Butler
'09
CBS
10.8
17,649
North Carolina-Michigan State
'08
CBS
12.1
19,501
Kansas-Memphis
'07
CBS
12.2
19,563
Florida-Ohio State

SLING BLADE: In Denver, Tamara Chuang reports Villanova-North Carolina was the "most watched event ever" in Sling TV's 14-month history. The previous record for the Dish Network-owned OTT service was this year's Alabama-Clemson CFP championship. Sling TV will not say "how many viewers actually watched the game" (DENVERPOST.com, 4/5).

SHOW ME THE FUNNY: Villanova's last-second win was noted on late-night talk shows last night, with NBC’s Jimmy Fallon showing footage of F Kris Jenkins' winning shot and saying, “Look at this! Last second. ... They won! How exciting is that?! It was unbelievable!” Fallon then said calmly, “Now it is time to settle down for 162 games of baseball.” Fallon: “Everyone at Villanova is still celebrating. I saw today that Villanova cancelled all classes. Or as the players put it, ‘Cancelled what?’” ("The Tonight Show," NBC, 4/5). CBS’ Stephen Colbert gave a short rundown of the last few seconds of the game and said, “That was exciting, but for me the real highlight came between those two big shots. With the game tied and his team reeling, Villanova center Daniel Ochefu took the time to personally mop the floor. ... I can’t wait for the new Xbox game, ‘NCAA Mop Madness’” ("The Late Show," CBS, 4/5).

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