As any good college basketball coach will tell you, the team scores more points when everyone shares the ball.
This is certainly proving true with college hoops' signature event, the NCAA Tournament, which was up 15 percent in total viewers its first week for its highest performance in 17 years.
An average of 8.4 million viewers watched the preliminary-round games, which kicked off Wednesday and ended Sunday. (With the 68-team field more than quartered down, the tournament will continue Thursday with the remaning "Sweet 16" teams competing for the championship.)
After losing gobs of money on the the last few years as the exclusive broadcaster of so-called March Madness, CBS recently entered a new 14-year, $10.8 billion broadcast deal with the NCAA that also involved Turner Networks.
Now, sharing the licensing costs, and spreading the games across Turner's channels instead of stacking them all on CBS, the deal seems to be paying off.
Here's the full CBS announcement:
THE 2011 NCAA® DIVISION I MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP ON
TBS, CBS, TNT AND truTV
DELIVERS +15% RATINGS GROWTH AND AVERAGES 8.4 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS FOR FIRST WEEK OF TOURNAMENT
Highest Average Total Viewers for First Week of Tournament in 17 Years
Sunday’s Third-Round Coverage Delivers +18% Growth in Total Viewers
Turner Sports’ and CBS Sports’ exclusive live coverage of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV combined, scores with the highest average total viewers through the first week of games in 17 years. The overall tournament average-to-date, including the FIRST FOUR®, is a 5.5/13, up +15% from a 4.8/11 for CBS Sports’ 2010 coverage according to Nielsen Fast Nationals.
TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV averaged 8.4 million total viewers, up +14% over CBS Sports’ 7.4 million total viewers in 2010.
Overall, the 2011 NCAA tournament has delivered 81.3 people 2+, up +17% from 69.6 viewers for CBS Sports’ 2010 coverage.
Third-round coverage on Sunday, March 20 combined to deliver an average fast national household rating/share of 6.6/14, up +16% from a 5.7/13 for CBS Sports’ 2010 coverage. The 6.6/14 ties with a 6.6/15 (2005) as the highest rating for the first Sunday of the Tournament since a 7.2/17, 11 years ago (2000).
Sunday’s coverage averaged 10.5 million viewers, up +18% from last year’s 8.9 million viewers.
The overall tournament average-to-date continues to deliver double-digit growth in key adult and male demos over 2010, including:
- A18-34 +40% (2,247 vs. 1,609)
- A18-49 +18% (4,011 vs. 3,397)
- A25-54 +15% (4,136 vs. 3,611)
- M18-34 +40% (1,516 vs. 1,080)
- M18-49 +23% (2,848 vs. 2,322)
- M25-54 +21% (2,973 vs. 2,460)
Source: Nielsen Media Research, based on Fast National Data, Live +SD data stream. 2011 NCAA Tournament Dates, include First Four telecast gross. Dates of NCAA Tournament: 2011 3/15/11 – 3/20/11 vs 2010 3/18/10 – 3/21/10. 2011 averages based on weighted average of 4 telecast gross across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. Historical audiences, CBS 1991 through 2005 based on Live data. 2006 through 2010 based on Live + SD. 2003 based on CBS / ESPN average of First Round. Total Viewer Reach based on 6 minute qualifer for NCAA Tournament to-date (CBS, TBS, TNT, truTV) vs. 2010 CBS.
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