Ratings Roundup: NCAA Championship Game Audience Down 7%, But Still Wins the Night

The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, in which Villanova defeated North Carolina at the final buzzer, 77-74, averaged 17.8 million total viewers and a 13.2 HH coverage rating/10.6 U.S HH rating across TBS, TNT and truTV. That is down 37% in viewership and down 34% in rating from last season's Duke/Wisconsin showdown on CBS ((16.0, 28.3 million), which drew the largest audience in 18 years. The game was the first Championship to air on TBS rather than CBS as part of the two networks combined rights deal with the NCAA (TBS is currently in about 18 percent fewer households than CBS). Viewership was down 16% and rating was down 15% percent from the 21.3 million and 12.4 rating for UConn-Kentucky in 2014. The previous low was a 10.8 rating for North Carolina-Michigan State in 2009. (AP)

Despite the declines compared to previous CBS telecasts, the game ranks as the second most-viewed college basketball telecast in the history of cable television, trailing only the 2015 National Semifinal game between Wisconsin/Kentucky (also airing across TBS, TNT and truTV). The National Championship telecast was also the highest-rated and most-viewed program of the night across all of television. Turner networks have now been home to cable television's top 14 most-viewed college basketball games of all time.

Villanova's victory over North Carolina peaked with an average of 22.3 million total viewers and a 16.5 HH coverage rating/13.2 U.S. HH rating from 11:15-11:30 p.m. ET, during the final moments of the game. Based on quarter-hour delivery, the audience grew 51% from the start of the game leading up to its epic conclusion.

Collectively, the National Championship grossed 2.5 billion minutes of consumption across television and digital platforms. NCAA March Madness Live netted 3.4 million live video streams and 1.1 million live hours of video consumption, the latter a 16% increase over last year.

Monday's National Championship also generated 56 million impressions across March Madness social accounts on Twitter and Facebook, up 112% over last year. Social video views were up more than five times the volume of last year's championship game with eight million views overall

The NCAA Women's Final Four National Final between top-seeded UConn and No. 2 seed Oregon State on Sunday delivered a 1.7 overnight rating on ESPN, up 31 percent from last year's first semifinal tilt between South Carolina and Notre Dame (1.3). The game is also up 6 percent over UConn's 2015 semifinal game (1.6), the second of the ESPN doubleheader. Combined, the two Women's Final Four National Semifinal games experienced 34 percent increase in average minute audience, 14 percent increase in total unique viewers and 30 percent increase in total minutes viewed compared to last year's semifinal games. The two National Semifinal games - which also included No. 4 seed Syracuse against No. 10 seed Washington on ESPN2 - earned a combined 1.4 overnight rating, comparable to ESPN's doubleheader in 2014. The second semifinal delivered a 1.0 rating.

On a market-by-market basis for the UConn-Oregon State game on ESPN, Hartford delivered the highest-rated market at 19.2, followed by Portland (7.0), Seattle (4.4) and Knoxville (3.0). The top metered markets for Syracuse-Washington on ESPN2 were led by Seattle (8.7), Hartford (5.8), Knoxville (2.2) and Portland (2.0).

On WatchESPN, UConn vs. Oregon State experienced a 70 percent increase in average minute audience, 32 percent increase in total unique viewers and 59 percent increase in total minutes viewed compared to the first semifinal game in 2015 (South Carolina vs. Notre Dame). The game experienced a 45 percent increase in average minute audience, 38 percent increase in total unique viewers and 59 percent increase in total minutes viewed compared to UConn's semifinal game last year

beIN SPORTS telecast of the El Cl sico matchup between LaLiga's FC Barcelona and Real Madrid on April 2 averaged more than 1.9 million total viewers (P2 ) across both networks. El Cl sico on beIN SPORTS en Espa ol ranks as the #1 soccer telecast YTD across all cable networks regardless of language outperforming telecasts such as Univision Deportes' Liga MX Super Cl sico Guadalajara vs. Am rica and the World Cup Qualifier match M xico vs. Canada ; ESPN2's World Cup Qualifier match USA vs. Guatemala ; and NBCSN's English Premier League Chelsea vs. Arsenal . The simulcast of El Cl sico on beIN SPORTS ranks as the fifth highest rated soccer telecast among competitors such as NBCSN, ESPN2 and Fox Sports and sits in the top 15 among all soccer matches YTD across all languages. The April 2nd telecast of the season's second installment of El Cl sico averaged 1,915,487 total viewers (P2 ), seeing a 2.2% increase in viewership since the previous match on November 21st, 2015, which averaged 1,874,582 total viewers (P2 ) across both networks

The broadcast of FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid had the #1 most socially engaged audience across all sporting events of the day based on tweets per unique author outperforming Villanova vs. Oklahoma and North Carolina vs. Syracuse Final Four matches on TBS, in addition to World Figure Skating Championships and Phoenix Grand Prix on NBCSN. beIN SPORTS' broadcast of FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid was the #2 most social program of the day across all categories, with the most tweeted minute of the game occurring at 4:15 pm ET with 11,000 tweets following Cristiano Ronaldo's winning goal. El Cl sico content featured across beIN SPORTS' Facebook pages generated over 29.3 million impressions combined and 3.1 million video views with 1.6 million engaged users

ESPN's Major League Baseball Opening Day was headlined by a 2.1 overnight rating for the New York Mets-Kansas C

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