05 NCAA Division I Men s Basketball...

Turner Sports and CBS Sports' Thursday NCAA Tournament Coverage Earns 6.6 Overnight Rating, Up 10% vs. 2014

NCAA March Madness Live Delivers Record-Setting First Thursday with 22 Million Live Video Streams

CBS Sports and Turner Sports' exclusive second round coverage of the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV on Thursday, March 19, delivered the all-time highest rating for the first Thursday of the NCAA Tournament (since the tournament expanded to four telecast windows for the entire day in 1991). Thursday's games averaged a 6.6/14 overnight ratings/share, up 10% compared with a 6.0/14 in 2014, according to Nielsen metered market ratings.

Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live delivered a record-setting first Thursday of tournament action with 22 million live video streams registering a 12% increase over last year.

Thursday's television coverage, which made NCAA Tournament history with five games decided by one point, showed ratings growth among the telecast windows.

The first daytime telecast window (12-4:30 p.m. ET) averaged a 4.6/15 to tie last year as the highest rating for the game window in 25 years.

The second daytime telecast window (2:45-7:30 p.m.) averaged a 6.7/16 to garner the highest rating in for the game window since 1991. The telecast window is up 24% compared with a 5.5/14 in 2014.

The first primetime telecast window (6:45-10:30 p.m.) averaged a 7.8/13 to register the highest rating for the game window in 25 years. The window surpassed a 7.7/15 in 2014.

The second primetime window (9:15 p.m.-1:15 a.m.) averaged a 7.1/13 to deliver the highest rating for the game window in 25 years and a 15% increase over the same telecast window last year (6.2/12).

Source: Nielsen Media Research, Arianna, Live +SD data stream. 3/19/15 vs. 03/20/14. 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 averages based on weighted average of 4 telecast gross across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. Historical audiences, CBS 1991 through 2005 based on Live data. Conviva, Adobe Analytics for digital metrics.

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Media Contacts:

Nate Smeltz, Turner Sports, at (404) 827-4786 or nate.smeltz@turner.com

Dan Sabreen, CBS Sports, at (212) 975-5936 or dsabreen@cbs.com

More media releases

CBS Sports and Turner Sports Announce Programming Schedule for 2014 and 2015 NCAA Final Four and National Championship Games

May 07, 2013

Turner Sports and CBS Sports Announce 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Broadcast Team

February 25, 2014

NCAA March Madness Live to Provide Fans Portable Access to More than 150 Hours of Live Streaming of the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship

February 27, 2014

All media releases

LINK:	https://pressroom.turner.com/us/turner-sports/ncaa-march-madness/2015-...
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