Final Four TV ratings higher than 2016, good news for CBS and NCAA

GREENVILLE, SC - MARCH 17: (EDITORS NOTE: Image is a digital panoramic composite.) A general view of the NCAA March Madness logo at center court during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on March 17, 2017 in Greenville, South Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /

This year’s NCAA men’s basketball national semifinals did very well for their television broadcaster, CBS.

Perhaps reports of the demise of live sports on television have been overrated. This year’s Final Four TV ratings have something to say about that.

The two games between Gonzaga and South Carolina then North Carolina and Oregon produced a 4.8 average rating. The peak number of viewers for the night was 17.92 million.

For those unfamiliar with television ratings language, an average rating is the estimated percentage of all television households which are tuned into a specific program at any given minute during the program’s broadcast. While 4.8 percent seems low, consider it against its competition from the night. The next-highest rating from the night was 0.3 percent tuned to ABC’s The Goldbergs. That program drew a peak audience of 1.76 million viewers.

Not only was this rating strong, but it was a drastic improvement over 2016’s broadcast of the national semifinal games on TBS.

#FinalFour ratings last night were up 37% from last year combined and second highest average rating since 2005. #sportsbiz
— Windy Dees (@getDeestweets) April 2, 2017

Obviously having the games on broadcast versus cable television was bound to improve the ratings, but it’s difficult to argue that fact alone could be responsible for producing the second-highest rating for the event in 12 years. North Carolina’s brand power, along with the fact that both Gonzaga and South Carolina were playing in their first Final Four games in school history probably helped. The fact that Oregon hadn’t made a national semifinal since 1939 didn’t hurt either.

Not only was this good news for CBS, but it’s great news for the NCAA. The NCAA gets most of its revenue from March Madness, and most of that revenue comes from selling the rights to broadcast its men’s basketball tournament. Ratings like these will allow the NCAA to continue to demand a premium price for those rights.

As far as the NCAA is concerned, live sports on television are still very much alive.

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