Kentucky vs. Wisconsin Across TBS, TNT and truTV Garners Highest Overnight Rating for College Basketball Game in Cable Television History
NCAA Tournament to Date Nets Highest Overnight Rating in 23 Years
NCAA March Madness Live Nets Record 77 Million Live Streams Through Saturday
Turner Sports and CBS Sports’ exclusive coverage of last night’s NCAA Tournament National Semifinal between Kentucky and Wisconsin across TBS, TNT and truTV averaged a 13.3/24 overnight rating/share to deliver the highest rating for a college basketball game in the history of cable television and the highest rating for a Final Four game in 22 years (13.8/24 in 1993). The networks’ collective coverage of Kentucky/Wisconsin peaked with a 16.4/30 overnight rating/share from 11-11:15 p.m. ET. The game telecast is up 48% over last year, based on Nielsen metered market ratings.
The NCAA Final Four National Semifinals doubleheader – including Duke vs. Michigan State – averaged an 11.4/22 overnight rating/share to register as the highest average overnight rating for the doubleheader in 20 years (11.6/22 in 1995). Last night’s National Semifinals are up 39% over last year.
The Duke/Michigan State telecast across TBS, TNT and truTV averaged a 9.6/20 overnight rating/share, the highest overnight rating in 10 years (10.3/19 in 2005) and a 30% increase over last year.
Overall, the NCAA Tournament coverage across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV is averaging a 7.5/15 overnight rating/share, tied as the best overnight rating in 23 years (7.7/16 in 1992).
Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live has garnered more than 77 million live video streams and 16.8 million live hours of video consumption through Saturday’s National Semifinals, both all-time records. This year’s live streams are up 15% over last year, with live hours of video consumed up 17%. Yesterday, NCAA March Madness Live delivered a record-setting six million live video streams and 1.5 million live hours of consumption for the National Semifinals, up 59% and 53%, respectively.
The NCAA Tournament has grossed a record 306 million total social impressions across Facebook and Twitter through the second Thursday for a 36% increase over 2014.
Source: Nielsen Media Research, Arianna, Live +SD data stream. 3/17/15 – 4/4/15 vs. 3/18/15 – 4/5/15. 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 averages based on weighted average of 4 telecast gross across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV. Historical audiences, CBS 1991 through 2005 based on Live data. Conviva, Adobe Analytics for digital metrics. Facebook Insights and Twitter for social analytics.
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