The return of the men's Final Four to cable TV was a mixed bag for the NCAA. Turner Sports -- with coverage across TBS, TNT, truTV and March Madness Live -- averaged a total audience delivery of 13.4 million viewers for the doubleheader on Saturday night, which featured Michigan-Loyola Chicago in the early window and Villanova-Kansas in the late window. That doubleheader is down from 16.8 million viewers on CBS alone last year (Gonzaga-South Carolina and North Carolina-Oregon), but up 15% from Turner's last time with the Final Four in '16 (11.7 million viewers for Villanova-Oklahoma and North Carolina-Syracuse). Back in '15, Turner had a blueblood-heavy doubleheader of Duke-Michigan State and Wisconsin-Kentucky -- the Wildcats were trying to complete a perfect season -- and averaged around 18.9 million viewers. In Saturday's early window, Michigan-Loyola drew a total audience delivery of 13.4 million viewers, down from 14.7 million on CBS for Gonzaga-South Carolina last year, but up from 10.5 million for Villanova-Oklahoma two years ago on Turner networks. In the late window, Villanova's big win over Kansas averaged 13.3 million viewers, down from 18.8 million for UNC-Oregon last year, but up from 12.9 million for UNC-Syracuse two years ago. Meanwhile, on MML alone, live streams were up 28% from two years ago.
