CBS Sports and Turner Sports’ exclusive coverage of last night’s NCAA Tournament Men’s National Championship between Duke and Wisconsin on CBS scored a 17.1/27 HH rating/share to deliver the highest overnight rating for the NCAA Men’s National Championship in the metered markets in 18 years (1997; 18.0/28, Arizona-Kentucky), based on Nielsen metered market ratings. The broadcast’s 17.1/27 is up 33% over last year (12.9/21; Connecticut-Kentucky) and peaked with a 20.1/34 from 11:00-11:30 PM, ET.
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Overall, 2015 NCAA Tournament coverage across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV averaged a 7.8/16 overnight rating/share, up 13% and is the best overnight rating in 22 years (7.9/17 in 1993).
Top five rated metered markets for last night’s game:
1. Milwaukee – 42.2/59
2. Raleigh-Durham – 36.2/54
3. Louisville – 33.5/48
4. Columbus – 29.9/44
5. Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem – 29.5/43
Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live garnered a record-setting 3.4 million live video streams for last night’s NCAA Championship game and nearly one million hours of live video consumed, also an all-time record. Last night’s live video streams are up 66%, with the live hours of consumption up 69% over last year. NCAA March Madness Live generated 80.7 million live video streams and 17.8 million hours of live video consumption during this year’s tournament, both all-time highs. This year’s live video streams are up 17%, with live hours of consumption netting a 19% increase.
The NCAA Tournament grossed a record 350 million total social impressions across Facebook and Twitter for a 45% increase over 2014.