CBS last night drew a 14.5 overnight rating for North Carolina's 71-65 win over Gonzaga in the NCAA Basketball Championship game, marking the third-best figure since '05, when UNC also won. The 14.5 is up 21% from last year, when Villanova defeated UNC at the buzzer, but that title game aired on cable for the first time, with TBS/TNT/truTV combining to average a 12.0. UNC-Gonzaga is down 15% from a 17.1 for Duke-Wisconsin in '15. This year was up from a 12.9 in '14 and up from a 14.3 in '13. Last night's game peaked with a 17.4 overnight as the game was ending from 11:30-11:45pm ET. Raleigh-Durham led all markets with a 33.8 local rating, followed by Greensboro-Winston-Salem (31.7) and Charlotte (30.1). Seattle-Tacoma ranked No. 4 with a 24.5 rating. Through the title game, CBS/TNT/TBS/truTV averaged a 7.2 overnight for all tourney games, marking the second-best figure since '05 and up 13% from a 6.4 rating last year (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
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NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP OVERNIGHT RATINGS TREND
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YEAR
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NET(S)
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RATING
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MATCHUP
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'17
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CBS
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14.5
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North Carolina-Gonzaga
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'16
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TBS/TNT/truTV
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12.0
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Villanova-North Carolina
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'15
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CBS
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17.1
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Duke-Wisconsin
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'14
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CBS
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12.9
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UConn-Kentucky
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'13
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CBS
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14.3
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Louisville-Michigan
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'12
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CBS
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12.1
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Kentucky-Kansas
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'11
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CBS
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13.3
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UConn-Butler
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'10
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CBS
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16.0
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Duke-Butler
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'09
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CBS
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11.9
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North Carolina-Michigan State
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'08
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CBS
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12.8
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Kansas-Memphis
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'07
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CBS
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13.6
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Florida-Ohio State
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'06
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CBS
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11.7
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Florida-UCLA
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'05
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CBS
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16.0
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North Carolina-Illinois
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A LITTLE BIRD TOLD US: Last night's National Championship received a lot of attention from Twitter. The top three most-tweeted moments of the game were: 1. UNC defeats Gonzaga to win National Championship 71-65, 2. UNC F Kennedy Meeks blocks shot leading to UNC dunk to seal the victory in closing seconds and 3. Questionable flagrant foul called on Gonzaga C Przemek Karnowski. The most-mentioned players of the game were Karnowski and Meeks. Finally,the tweet that received the most retweets last night around the game was from the "SportsCenter" Twitter account that said, "REDEMPTION! UNC prevails to win the 2017 national championship!" (THE DAILY).
MOVING ON: The conclusion of the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Dallas on Sunday marked ESPN analyst Doris Burke's final women’s college basketball game for the net. Burke has been a part of the women’s Final Four in various capacities over the years, working for Westwood One Radio ('01 and '02), as an ESPN sideline reporter ('03-05) and her current role as a game analyst ('06-'17). She will continue her work on ESPN’s NBA and men’s college basketball (ESPN).
LIVING LARGE BABY! THE RINGER's Bryan Curtis profiled ESPN's Dick Vitale, and wrote using social media provides the basketball analyst with two things he "desperately craves." One is a "microphone that no producer can switch off." The second thing is a "method for Vitale to absorb the adoration of the masses." Vitale: "I like the fact that I can exchange feelings with people." Vitale -- who makes six figures from ESPN and $45,000 every time he gives a corporate speech -- "didn't need to provide free content about games he hadn't even watched." However, the video capabilities of social media are "important to him." Former ESPN personality Howie Schwab, who was laid off in '13, now "prompts Vitale with players' names during radio appearances, and fields the odd research call from Vitale at 1 a.m." (THERINGER.com, 4/2).
