North Carolina’s victory against Gonzaga in Monday’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament National Championship game was also a victory for CBS.
The network saw a 21 percent jump in ratings compared to 2016 from that game alone, and finished its overall March Madness coverage with a clear win for viewership. CBS Sports scored a 14.5 rating among Nielsen’s metered-market households, locking in the final game as the third highest-rated national championship since 2005.
Broadcasters felt a collective high, with average ratings up 13 percent across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV.
While that spike speaks to linear growth, CBS also saw a significant climb in streaming with March Madness Live pulling in a record-setting 4.4 million live video streams for the championship game, up 29 percent from 2016.
Overall, the tournament netted nearly 100 million live video streams for a 33 percent increase.
And social also saw a boost, with March Madness garnering 74 million engagements for a 42 percent increase.
Here are the top five metered markets from Monday’s championship:
1. Raleigh-Durham – 33.8/52
2. Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem – 31.7/47
3. Charlotte – 30.1/46
4. Seattle-Tacoma – 24.5/43
5. Louisville – 23.5/38
Facing strong competition from the NCAA, NBC’s The Voice came in number two for Monday night with an average 2.1 rating among 18-49-year-olds and 9.8 million viewers. ABC’s Dancing With the Stars drew a 1.6 rating in the key demographic and 10.3 million viewers. And Fox’s 24:Legacy pulled a 0.8 rating.
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