Sports Media World Reacts To NCAA Tournament TV Ratings
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 22: Chaundee Brown #15 of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates after making a three-pointer against the LSU Tigers during the second half in the NCAA Basketball Tournament second round at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 22, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
March Madness, we missed you. It's been two years since we've seen the NCAA Tournament on full display, but so far it has been worth the wait.
The first two rounds for this year's tournament have been filled with upsets, as there are currently four double-digit seeds in the Sweet 16. One of the double-digit seeds is No. 15 Oral Roberts, which knocked off No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Florida in back-to-back rounds.
With the first week of the 2021 NCAA Tournament officially in the books, CBS and Turner Sports have announced their TV ratings.
CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV averaged 8.5 million viewers from Thursday through Sunday. That's a three-percent decrease from the 2019 ratings, but it's a three-percent increase from the 2018 tournament.
Stewart Mandel of The Athletic brought up an excellent point regarding this year's TV ratings.
"That's frankly remarkable given the unusual setup/schedule, no Duke/Kentucky, etc. March Madness is recession-proof," Mandel wrote on Twitter.
Duke and Kentucky have huge followings, so the fact that the NCAA is still drawing in millions of viewers on a nightly basis without those programs is very encouraging.
Richard Deitsch also had a positive reaction to the NCAA's latest ratings, tweeting "These are really impressive numbers given how the other jewel sporting events have done over the last 365 days."
The NCAA Tournament will return on Saturday afternoon, as Loyola Chicago takes on Oregon State in the Sweet 16.
