Since the Super Bowl, basketball has dominated the list of the most-watched sports telecasts. Through the end of April, telecasts around the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and NBA have accounted for 20 of the top 25 most-viewed sports telecasts. Taking the top spot during that time frame was the Virginia-Texas Tech NCAA men’s title game on CBS with 19.7 million viewers, followed by the Michigan State-Duke Elite 8 game (16.2 million viewers) and Texas Tech-Michigan State national semifinal (15.8 million viewers). The top non-basketball telecast during this window was the first round of the NFL Draft, which drew a combined average audience of 11.1 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and NFL Network. Other non-hoops telecasts to crack the top 25 included the weekend rounds at The Masters and Daytona 500.
|
RANK
|
TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
|
1
|
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Virginia-Texas Tech |
4/8
|
CBS
|
19,723
|
|
2
|
NCAA Tournament: Elite Eight: Michigan State-Duke |
3/31
|
CBS
|
16,197
|
|
3
|
NCAA Tournament: Semifinal: Texas Tech-Michigan State |
4/6
|
CBS
|
15,840
|
|
4
|
NCAA Tournament: Semifinal: Virginia-Auburn |
4/6
|
CBS
|
12,967
|
|
5
|
NCAA Tournament: Second Round: Duke-UCF |
3/24
|
CBS
|
12,880
|
|
6
|
NFL Draft: Round 1 |
4/25
|
ABC/ESPN/
NFL Net
|
11,126
|
|
7
|
The Masters: Final Round |
4/14
|
CBS
|
10,810
|
|
8
|
NCAA Tournament: Elite Eight: Auburn-Kentucky |
3/31
|
CBS
|
10,493
|
|
9
|
NCAA Tournament: Elite Eight: Virginia-Purdue |
3/30
|
TBS
|
10,486
|
|
10
|
NCAA Tournament: Sweet 16: Duke-Virginia Tech |
3/29
|
CBS
|
10,072
|
|
11
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: Daytona 500 |
2/17
|
Fox
|
9,170
|
|
12
|
NCAA Tournament: Second Round: Kentucky-Wofford |
3/23
|
CBS
|
8,957
|
|
13
|
NCAA Tournament: Second Round: North Carolina-Washington |
3/24
|
CBS
|
8,918
|
|
14
|
NCAA Tournament: Second Round: Michigan-Florida |
3/23
|
CBS
|
8,881
|
|
15
|
The Masters: Third Round |
4/13
|
CBS
|
8,627
|
|
16
|
NCAA Tournament: Elite Eight: Texas Tech-Gonzaga |
3/30
|
TBS
|
7,722
|
|
17
|
"NCAA Basketball Championship Pregame" |
4/8
|
CBS
|
7,469
|
|
18
|
NFL Draft: Rounds 2-3 |
4/26
|
ABC/ESPN/
ESPN2/NFL Net
|
7,287
|
|
19
|
NBA Western Conference Semifinals: Rockets-Warriors: Game 1 |
4/28
|
ABC
|
7,256
|
|
20
|
NBA All-Star Game |
2/17
|
TNT/TBS
|
6,797
|
|
21
|
NCAA Tournament: Second Round: Tennessee-Iowa |
3/24
|
CBS
|
6,560
|
|
22
|
NCAA Tournament: Second Round: Michigan State-Minnesota |
3/23
|
CBS
|
6,489
|
|
23
|
NBA Western Conference First Round: Warriors-Clippers: Game 4 |
4/21
|
ABC
|
6,294
|
|
24
|
NCAA Tournament: First Round: Duke-North Dakota State |
3/22
|
CBS
|
6,223
|
|
25
|
NCAA Tournament Selection Show |
3/17
|
CBS
|
6,207
|
