That’s because the conventional wisdom is that TV viewers like Cinderella teams early in the tournament but want to watch the name-brand programs such as Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina (or even Big Ten powers like Ohio State and Michigan), as March Madness winds down, Pucci said.įans aren’t getting that in the men’s bracket. “CBS is about to brace for their lowest NCAA men’s Final Four to date,” he said. Villanova’s win over Michigan five years ago had 15.96 million linear TV viewers and 16.5 million with streaming and digital audiences included.ĭouglas Pucci, an editor at Programming Insider who tracks viewership for major sporting events, is even more dire in his prediction. I think the (2023) final could come in at around 14 million, and that would still be a more-than-respectable number in this environment.”
“The current low is just under 16 million for Villanova-Michigan in 2018. “Given the matchup possibilities, it seems very likely that viewership will be the lowest on record,” said Jon Lewis, who has monitored TV ratings since 2006 at Sports Media Watch. One sports TV insider said he believes we could see the men’s Final Four audience crater. So how will the TV ratings fare, without any of the men’s patrician programs and as television continues to undergo chaotic changes in how viewers consume a proliferation of entertainment while continuing to drop cable in favor of streaming? This is also the first men’s Final Four without a No. Other than Connecticut, the men’s teams are all in their first Final Four and all games are on CBS. Saturday followed by UConn and Miami (Fla.) at 8:49 p.m., with the winners meeting at 9:20 p.m. The men’s semifinals pit Florida Atlantic and San Diego State at 6:09 p.m. Friday, also on ESPN, with the final scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The other women’s semifinal is Final Four newcomer Virginia Tech against LSU at 7 p.m. That could lead to some not-dismal TV viewership numbers.
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