The first weekend of March Madness was the most viewed weekend of the annual NCAA men’s basketball tournament since 1993. The figures released Tuesday morning showed that by combining the full viewership between TNT Sports and CBS Sports, the average audience reached 9.4 million viewers throughout the second round of the tournament.
Furthermore, the tournament was broadcast across the networks of TBS, CBS, TNT, and truTV, with the total average viewership for the first weekend being driven by Sunday’s highly anticipated matchups. Notably, the Kentucky-Illinois showdown and the Duke-Baylor clash each averaged 10.1 million viewers.
As a result, these two massive viewership numbers from Sunday’s second-round matchups represented a 13% increase from the same round last year.
Additionally, viewership for the tournament was off to a fast start as the round of 64 officially began on Thursday. CBS Sports and TNT Sports reported that the first day of tournament action became the highest-viewed NCAA Tournament opening day in the history of the annual event.
More specifically, last Thursday’s record-setting viewership averaged 9.1 million viewers across the same list of networks, marking a 6% rise from the same day of action last year. The primetime window was led by the highly competitive matchup between Arkansas and Kansas, which averaged 12.2 million viewers. Consequently, this made the game the most-watched first-round window in the history of the tournament.
Moreover, when factoring in the viewership for the First Four action that took place earlier last week, the average viewership stood at 8.8 million viewers, reflecting an 8% increase from 2024.
Last year’s NCAA tournament featured 67 games and generated more than $1 billion in sales. With demand now at an all-time high and proven viewership results, many industry experts anticipate that revenue will rise even further for the 2025 tournament.
The CBS-TNT Sports partnership originally began in 2010 when the two parties agreed to a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal to collaborate on coverage of the men’s tournament. Then, in March 2016, both parties extended their agreement with an $8.8 billion deal, which runs through the conclusion of the 2032 men’s tournament.
Looking ahead, tournament action for the Sweet Sixteen round is set to begin on Thursday.
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