CBS and TNT Sports’ telecasts are up by 7 percent year to year, and ESPN’s coverage of the women’s tournament also posts gains.
Cam Manyawu of the Iowa Hawkeyes shoots over Boogie Fland of the Florida Gators during their NCAA tournament game on March 22.There’s been a fair bit of hand-wringing in college basketball circles about the lack of Cinderella stories in this year’s NCAA men’s tournament.
TV viewers, though, haven’t seemed to mind. The first two rounds of the men’s tournament hit an all-time high with an average of 10.1 million viewers acrossESPN’s coverage of the women’s tournament is also putting up solid numbers, with a 9 percent gain year to year for the first round at 401,000 viewers. The company is also touting the total amount of time viewers spent watching games — more than a billion minutes’ worth so far.One caveat: This year’s numbers include Nielsen’s recently implemented big data component along with its traditional panel ratings. That has tended to result in higher ratings for live sports so far this season. The early rounds of the men’s tournament peaked in Sunday’s first primetime window, when a combined 19.7 million viewers watched one big upset — ninth-seeded Iowa’s win over defending champ Florida — a buzzer beater by St. John’s over Kansas and a closely contested Tennessee victory over Virginia. That’s the most watched window on record for the first week of the men’s bracket and up 29 percent from a year ago. The second round as a whole averaged 11 million viewers across all four outlets, building on the 9.5 million for the first round. The First Four preliminary round for the men’s tournament was also up a little year to year, led by Miami of Ohio’s win over SMU with 2.8 million viewers. On the women’s side, the first round Friday and Saturday was led by undefeated UConn’s blowout over 16-seed UT-San Antonio; it averaged 981,000 viewers. South Carolina’s easy win vs. Southern was close behind with 972,000 viewers. Those two contests rank sixth and seventh all-time for women’s first round games. ESPN also notes that viewers spent 1.3 billion minutes watching women’s first round games, the second highest total on record . Full numbers for the second round, which concluded Monday, aren’t available yet.‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’: Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga and Dolores Catania Returning for Season 15 Alongside New Cast. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the GoogleThe Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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