NCAA grades out

Virginia’s epic OT win over Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament Men’s National Championship Game on CBS capped a month of successes for CBS Sports and Turner Sports’ coverage of the tournament. The championship game drew a 12.4/22 HH rating/share, based on Nielsen metered market ratings for a rise of 20% over last year’s numbers (but off-pace from the last time the game aired on CBS), peaking at a 15.0/30 from 11:30-11:45p. Overall, 2019 NCAA Tournament coverage across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV averaged a 7.1/15, up 11% from last year (6.4/14). Richmond (31.3/48) was the top local market for last night’s game, followed by Norfolk (23.4/39), Minneapolis (23.3/41), Louisville (23.2/37) and Kansas City (21.1/36).

NCAA March Madness Live set all-time tournament records in live streams (over 100 million) and live hours consumed (over 24 million), up 31% and 29% vs. last year. NCAA March Madness Live generated a record for last night’s NCAA Championship Game based on live uniques, with live streams and live hours consumed showing increases of 19% and 7% vs. last year.

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