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
|
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
|
