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Audience Analysis: TruTV Draws Third-Best First Four Viewership

TruTV averaged 1.44 million viewers for the NCAA First Four on Tuesday and Wednesday night, marking the First Four's third-best audience since it began in '11. However, this year's audience is down 3% from 1.49 million viewers last year. Syracuse-Arizona State on Wednesday night in the late window averaged 2.16 million viewers, marking the third-best First Four game audience yet. The only games that were higher were Michigan-Tulsa in '16 and Tennessee-Iowa in '14.

FIRST FOUR VIEWERSHIP TREND ON TRUTV
YEAR
FOUR-GAME AVG. (000)
'18
1,440
'17
1,486
'16
1,311
'15
1,305
'14
1,493
'13
1,118
'12
984
'11
1,142
Download the
Audience Analysis Figures

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC: Predators games on FS Tennessee are averaging a 2.0 local rating in Nashville after 57 games, up 150% from the same point last season. The March 1 Oilers-Predators game drew a 3.2 local rating, which is the best for a Preds game in the market since the '06-07 season. Meanwhile, Preds game streams on Fox Sports Go are seeing a 600% increase in average minutes streamed.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS: Virginia basketball's win over North Carolina last Saturday night drew 3.44 million viewers, marking the fourth-most-watched ACC Basketball Championship game on record and the most-viewed conference championship game this season. But the game was down from just under 3.6 million viewers for Duke-Notre Dame last year, which was the most-viewed ACC title game in 20 years. The UNC-Virginia matchup in '16 drew 2.8 million viewers. Meanwhile, ESPN drew 2.85 million viewers for Kansas' win over West Virginia in the Big 12 title game earlier on Saturday night, marking the conference's best figure in 16 years and second best on record. Fox drew 1.49 million viewers for Villanova-Providence in the Big East title game on Saturday night, marking the net's best figure for the game yet. Following all conference championship games, TBS averaged 2.5 million viewers for the Selection Show (its first time airing the show), easily marking an all-time low. Last year's previous low on CBS was 4.88 million viewers.

The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.

TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS
(000)
PGA Tour: Valspar Championship: Final Round
3/11
NBC
3:00-6:00pm
4.4
6,913
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
TicketGuardian 500 (Phoenix)
3/11
Fox
3:46-6:30pm
2.8
4,576
PGA Tour: Valspar Championship: Third Round
3/10
NBC
3:00-6:00pm
2.8
4,308
College basketball: ACC Championship:
Virginia-North Carolina
3/10
ESPN
8:30-10:38pm
2.0
3,435
College basketball: Big 12 Championship:
Kansas-West Virginia
3/10
ESPN
6:07-8:09pm
1.7
2,852
College basketball: ACC Tournament
Semifinal: North Carolina-Duke
3/9
ESPN
9:34-11:48pm
1.7
2,823
College basketball: SEC Championship:
Kentucky-Tennessee
3/11
ESPN
12:56-3:13pm
1.5
2,553
NCAA Tournament Selection Show
3/11
TBS
6:00-8:00pm
n/a
2,497
PGA Tour: Valspar Championship:
Final Round (lead-in)
3/11
Golf Channel
1:00-3:00pm
1.5
2,354
NBA: Cavaliers-Lakers
3/11
ESPN
9:00-11:23pm
1.4
2,223
NBA: Warriors-T'Wolves
3/11
ABC
3:31-6:00pm
1.5
2,218
NBA: Spurs-Thunder
3/10
ABC
8:31-10:56pm
1.4
2,190
College basketball: AAC Championship:
Cincinnati-Houston
3/11
CBS
3:25-6:00pm
1.4
2,091
NBA: Spurs-Warriors
3/8
TNT
10:38pm-1:07am
n/a
2,069
College basketball: SEC Tournament
Semifinal: Kentucky-Alabama
3/10
ESPN
12:59-3:05pm
1.3
2,001
NBA: Rockets-Thunder
3/6
TNT
8:14-10:39pm
n/a
1,887
"NBA Countdown"
3/10
ABC
8:00-8:31pm
1.2
1,687
College basketball: AAC semifinal:
Houston-Wichita State
3/10
CBS
3:32-6:00pm
1.1
1,625
College basketball: MWC Championship:
San Diego State-New Mexico
3/10
CBS
6:02-8:30pm
1.0
1,587
College basketball: Big East Championship:
Villanova-Providence
3/10
Fox
6:47-9:15pm
0.9
1,491
College basketball: A-10 Championship:
Davidson-Rhode Island
3/11
CBS
1:00-3:25pm
0.9
1,349
Liga MX: Club America-Leon
3/10
Univision
9:59pm-12:00am
0.7
1,255
College basketball: AAC semifinal:
Cincinnati-Memphis
3/10
CBS
1:00-3:30pm
0.9
1,183
Verizon IndyCar Series:
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
3/11
ABC
12:30-3:06pm
0.8
1,144
NHL: Bruins-Blackhawks
3/11
NBC
12:20-3:00pm
0.7
1,087
Liga MX: Tigres UNAL-Tijuana
3/10
Univision
7:55-9:59pm
0.5
931
Paralympic Games (taped)
3/10
NBC
1:00-3:00pm
0.6
849
ESPN Films: "24 Strong"
3/10
ABC
4:30-5:00pm
0.5
626
"30 for 30": "What Carter Lost"
3/10
ABC
3:00-4:30pm
0.5
615
"World of X Games:
The Life of Mark McMorris"
3/10
ABC
2:00-3:00pm
0.3
465
Download the
Recent Sports Viewership

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