There were signs that viewership for last night’s NCAA men’s basketball final between UCLA and Florida would be low. Ratings for Saturday’s Final Four games were down, and ticket scalpers reported very little interest in yesterday’s game.
In fact, the game may end up being the least-watched NCAA men’s basketball title game ever.
From 9 to 11 p.m. last night, CBS averaged 14.3 million total viewers for its coverage of the game, according to Nielsen fast national ratings. The game lasted past 11 p.m., but viewership was already sinking by then. Final numbers could change substantially, however, as the game did not tip off until 9:20 p.m., and fast national data measures timeslot, not actual program, data.
If viewership stays at 14.3 million when final numbers are released later today, that would be the lowest average ever for the NCAA title game. The previous low came two years ago, when 17.1 million people watched Connecticut defeat Georgia Tech.
According to metered markets, the entire game averaged an 11.7 household rating, just 0.5 ahead of 2004’s average. It was 30 percent off last year's 16.0 average.
CBS didn’t fare much better among 18-49s. From 9-11 p.m. the network averaged a 5.1 rating in the demo, down 33 percent from the 7.6 it averaged over those two hours last year for North Carolina-Illinois, and down 15 percent from a 6.0 two years ago.
Certainly the teams in the game contributed to the low ratings. Very few basketball analysts expected UCLA or eventual winner Florida to make it to the title game, and neither team has the rabid fan base of say Duke or UNC.
Perhaps an exciting game might have pulled in more viewers. But Florida cruised out to a big lead early.
Also, the game received strong competition during the 9 p.m. hour from NBC’s “Deal or No Deal.” The second half of a special two-hour “Deal” averaged 19.1 million viewers and a 6.6 rating among 18-49s that hour, tops for the night in both categories and well ahead of CBS.
In fact, NBC led the night among 18-49s with a 5.3 average rating and a 13 share. CBS was second at 4.6/11, Fox third at 4.2/11, ABC fourth at 3.2/8, Univision fifth at 1.8/4, WB sixth at 1.6/4 and UPN seventh at 1.1/3.
NBC started the night in the lead with a 4.9 rating at 8 p.m. for the first half of its two-hour “Deal.” CBS was second with a 3.7 average for a repeat of “Two and a Half Men” (4.0) and a new episode of “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (3.4), Fox third with a 3.5 for “Prison Break” and ABC fourth with a 2.9 for a repeat of “Wife Swap.”
The WB was fifth that hour with a 1.8 for “7th Heaven,” Univision sixth with a 1.5 for “Barrera de Amor” and UPN seventh with a 1.1 for repeats of “One on One” and “All of Us.”
At 9 p.m. NBC led again with its 6.6 for “Deal.” That marked the highest series rating for NBC in that slot in two years. Fox was second that hour with a 5.0 for “24,” CBS third with a 4.6 for its basketball coverage and ABC fourth with a 3.8 for “Supernanny.” Univision moved to fifth that hour with a 2.2 for “Alborada,” with WB sixth with a 1.4 for “Everwood” and UPN seventh with a 1.1 for repeats of “Girlfriends” and “Half and Half.”
CBS did take the lead during the 10 p.m. hour with a 5.5 rating for basketball. NBC dropped to second with a 4.4 for “The Apprentice,” with ABC third with a 2.8 for “Miracle Workers” and Univision fourth with a 1.5 for “Cristina.”
Among households, NBC led the night with a 9.4 average rating and a 14 share. CBS was second at 8.7/13, Fox third at 6.2/9, ABC fourth at 5.4/8, WB fifth at 2.6/4, Univision sixth at 2.0/3 and UPN seventh at 1.9/3.
