NCAA Tournament opens on a run

The 2017 NCAA Tournament opened big for CBS and Turner Sports, as live game coverage across the networks, including the First Four and first Thursday games, averaged 7.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen, for an uptick of 5% over last year. Thursday’s game generated 8.2 million viewers, up 4 and ranks as the third most-watched first Thursday since 1991. Meanwhile, the NCAA First Four on truTV last week grossed 5.9 million viewers, up 12% over last year, ranking as the second most-viewed First Four coverage since the format was introduced in 2011. On the digital front, NCAA March Madness Live (scored an all-time record 31 million live streams through the first Thursday of the tournament, an increase of 26% over last year.

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