CBS' NCAA Tournament Coverage Down 7.1% From Last Year

CBS' Ratings For NCAA Tournament Down 7.1% From Last Year's Comparable Window

WELL HEELED: With all four No. 1 seeds advancing to the Final Four, CBS News & Sports President Sean McManus said that the “best [ratings] formula is the top teams playing close games.” McManus: “Storied basketball tradition and close games: It’s a pretty unbeatable formula” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 4/1). CBS will lead its broadcast of the Final Four on Saturday with Memphis-UCLA at 6:07pm, followed by North Carolina-Kansas 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. McManus said the order of the games was “basically a group decision” between himself, CBS Sports Exec VP & Exec Producer Tony Petitti and CBS Sports Senior VP/Programming Mike Aresco. McManus: “We try to put the game we think has the most viewer appeal late in the evening to try to maximize the ratings. … It’s just based on the ratings strength of what North Carolina normally does when it is in a big game. We do look at ratings tracks and we notice that when North Carolina is in a national telecast, the ratings generally tend to be very, very strong” (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 4/1).

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