NCAA Tournament's Sunday Elite Eight flops with TV viewers

Field Level Media|published: Tue 1st April, 17:42 2025

A sea of TVs keeps patrons in the NCAA March Madness loop Friday, March 19, 2021 at The District Tap in Indianapolis. Ncaa March Madness Begins In Indy

The Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament was not a big hit with March Madness viewers.

The regional finals on Saturday and Sunday saw all four No. 1 seeds advance to the Final Four and they averaged just 9 million viewers on CBS, TBS and truTV, a 10 percent drop from last year's tournament.

According to Neilsen, the two Sunday games were down 26 percent from a year ago.

Houston's 69-50 victory over Tennessee averaged 7.1 million viewers, down 32 percent from last year's Purdue over Tennessee matchup in the same window. Auburn's 70-64 win over Michigan State averaged 11.7 million viewers, a drop of 23 percent from last year's North Carolina State upset of Duke.

The results were better for the Saturday games. Duke's 85-65 rout of Alabama drew 9.8 million viewers, up 26 percent from last year's telecast of Alabama beating Clemson. Florida's rally for an 84-79 win over Texas Tech drew 7.5 million, 16 percent over last season when UConn beat Illinois.

Also, Sweet 16 games on Thursday and Friday averaged 9.8 million viewers, down six percent from last year. The Sweet 16 didn't have any true Cinderella teams, which certainly hurt interest.

Overall, the tournament is averaging 9.4 million, same as last year, thanks to strong ratings for the first two rounds.

This Saturday, the Final Four tips off with Southeastern Conference rivals Florida and Auburn clashing at 6:09 p.m. ET in San Antonio. That will be followed with Houston of the Big 12 playing Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The latter game will start no earlier than 8:49 p.m. ET.

--Field Level Media

Latest