The Duke-UCF second-round game of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament drew the second-highest TV rating in 29 years. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
NCAA March Madness Live has set all-time streaming records as college basketball fans flocked to both cable and alternative broadcasts.
CBS Sports and Turner Sports’ coverage of the 2019 NCAA Mens’ Basketball Tournament hit records across all platforms during the first week, the companies reported on Monday.
NCAA March Madness Live, the streaming hub for NCAA basketball tournament games, reached a record in terms of both live streams and live hours of consumption, each increasing by more than 25 percent.
The increase in streaming viewership occurred alongside record-setting performances for linear TV. The month-long tournament achieved its second-highest rating in 29 years, when the NCAA tournament expanded to its current television format in 1991. Viewership was up eight percent from the same one-week period in 2018.
Sunday’s third game, highlighted this year by the down-to-the-wire Duke-UCF game, was up 35 percent from last year, according to data sourced from industry tracker Conviva. In the same CBS slot in 2018, No. 7 Texas A&M beat No. 2 North Carolina 86-65. This year No.1 Duke beat No. 9 UCF 77 to 76.
Activity and engagement on the official NCAA March Madness social accounts has also been on the rise. The accounts have so far produced a 56 percent increase in engagements compared with this time last year across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
SportTechie Takeaway
The March Madness Tournament is shattering streaming records as people flock to alternative broadcasts. However, the strong performance of linear shows, once again, that cable television remains a powerful force in sports entertainment. The overall interest in March Madness may well be increasing as people engage with second-screen experiences such as fantasy, increasingly high-tech brackets, and legalized sports betting.
