Update: combined viewership for Wisconsin-Kentucky was 22.6 million viewers across TBS, TNT and truTV. That’s way up versus the 16.25 million last year’s Kentucky-Wisconsin game averaged across the same three networks. Duke’s win over Michigan State averaged million viewers, which was also up big versus the equivalent game last year (UConn-Florida) which averaged 11.65 million viewers.
The Wisconsin-Kentucky matchup was the most-watched semifinal in 19 years, and the 3 network average of 22.6 million was bigger than last year’s Kentucky/UConn final which averaged 21.2 million viewers on CBS.
Wisconsin ending Kentucky’s bid to be the first undefeated college team since 1979 drew the best overnight rating for a final four game in 22 years and was up 48% versus last year’s Kentucky-Wisconsin Final 4 matchup. Combined coverage peaked with a 16.4/30 household rating/share from 11-11:15p.
The game averaged a 13.3/24 overnight household rating/share across TBS and the “Team Stream” broadcasts on TNT and truTV. The combined rating across networks was a cable overnight rating for the men’s NCAA basketball tournament
Earlier, Duke’s win over Michigan State averaged a 9.6/20 overnight household rating/share to combine for an average overnight rating of 11.4 between both games.
Here’s a table comparing this year’s semifinals to the ratings/viewership for the 2014 semis:
| 2015 NCAA Men’s Semis | Net | 2015 Overnight Rating | 2015 Viewership (Millions) | 2014 Overnight rating | 2014 Viewership (Millions) | 2014 NCAA Men’s Semis |
| Michigan St-Duke | TBS | 6.7 | 4.6 | 7.099 | UConn-Florida | |
| Duke Team Stream | TNT | 2.4 | 2.3 | 3.704 | Florida Team Stream | |
| Michigan State Team Stream | truTV | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.851 | UConn Team Stream | |
| 9.6 | 15.3 | 7.4 | 11.654 | |||
| Wisconsin-Kentucky | TBS | 9.4 | 5.6 | 10.386 | Kentucky-Wisconsin | |
| Kentucky Team Stream | TNT | 3.1 | 2.6 | 4.300 | Kentucky Team Stream | |
| Wisconsin Team Stream | truTV | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.564 | Wisconsin Team Stream | |
| 13.3 | 22.6 | 9.0 | 16.250 |
We haven’t seen the breakout by network yet, but will update the table below when we do.
Overnight household rating = the live+same day DVR overnight metered-market household rating from the top 56 Nielsen television markets. The 56 markets (out of 210 total) account for about 70% of the US TV-viewing population. The overnight household rating is the percentage of the households that were tuned-in in those markets.