Ratings Roundup: March Madness Up 10% in Viewership; WBC Is Home Run for MLBN, ESPN Deportes

Ratings roundup is a rundown of ratings news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, CBS and Turner’s March Madness is up 10% in viewership through the Elite Eight, the World Baseball Classic knocks it out of the park for MLBN, ESPN, and internationally; Big East hoops scores best its season ever on Fox, and ESPN’s NCAA Wrestling Championships are up over last year. 

CBS Sports and Turner Sports’ coverage of the 2017 NCAA Tournament is up double-digits in viewership through the Elite Eight. The NCAA Tournament to date is averaging 9.8 million viewers through Sunday’s Regional Finals, up 10% from last year (8.9 million), making it the third most-watched tournament in 24 years.  In addition, the NCAA Tournament is averaging a 6.0/13 rating/share, up +9% from 2016 (5.5/12).

This weekend’s Regional Finals on TBS (Saturday) and CBS (Sunday) averaged 10.2 million viewers and a 6.0/13 rating/share, both up +11%respectively from last year (9.2 million viewers and 5.4/11 rating/share).

Sunday’s Regional Final thriller between North Carolina and Kentucky was watched by an average of 15.5 million viewers, making it the second most-watched Regional Final game (Saturday or Sunday) since 2005 (17.9 million viewers). The game peaked with 22.1 million viewers from 7:15–7:30 p.m. ET. The Kentucky vs. North Carolina game is up +5% from the comparable game window on CBS in 2015 (Duke-Gonzaga).

In addition, NCAA March Madness Live has generated an all-time record 88 million live video streams during this year’s tournament, an increase of 31% over last year.  Engagement across official March Madness social media handles continues to increase, garnering 53.5 million engagements through Sunday for an increase of 75% over last year.

WBC Sees Huge Audience Boost Across in U.S. and Abroad
The 2017 World Baseball Classic set television ratings and digital consumption records, headlined by the a WBC record 3.1 million U.S. viewers tuning in across MLB Network, ESPN Deportes, and the Spanish language simulcast on ESPN2 for Team USA’s 8-0 victory in the Championship game.

Overall, viewership for the 2017 World Baseball Classic on MLB Network increased +32% over the 2013 edition. The Championship Game between USA and Puerto Rico drew 2.3 million viewers on MLB Network, marking its second-most watched telecast ever, only behind 2016 NLDS Game Two between the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants. The 2017 World Baseball Classic delivered MLB Network its three most-viewed non-Postseason games in Network history: 2.3 million for USA vs. Puerto Rico on 3/22/17, 1.4 million for USA vs. Japan on 3/21/17, and 977,000 for USA vs. Dominican Republic on 3/11/17. During the tournament, MLB Network registered its most-watched week (March 6-12) and is expected to have the most-watched first quarter in its history.

The World Baseball Classic Championship Game was the largest ever U.S. audience for a Spanish language telecast of a baseball game with 761,000 viewers on ESPN Deportes and a simulcast on ESPN2. Overall, the World Baseball Classic delivered a 0.5 Hispanic Household rating, up 67 percent from 2013 (0.3 HH Rtg) and averaged 100,000 Hispanic viewers, up 54 percent from 2013 (65,000 viewers). Wednesday’s final on ESPN Deportes delivered a record 364,000 viewers and a 1.6 Hispanic household rating. The simulcast on ESPN2 contributed an additional 397,000 viewers.  Streaming audience provided a 4.6 percent lift to the linear telecast. Combined, ESPN Deportes, ESPN2 and the digital streaming audience saw a total cross platform audience of 796,000. The network was the most-watched Spanish-language cable network on the day of the final among Hispanic viewers, out-delivering the closest competitor by 48%. Throughout the entirety of the tournament (March 6-22), ESPN Deportes was the most-watched Spanish-language cable network among Hispanic men, out-delivering its closest competitor by 22 percent.

The WBC was a hit internationally as well. In Puerto Rico, 70% of televisions that were on the evening of March 22 were tuned into the World Baseball Classic Championship game. In addition, 67% of people in Puerto Rico watching television during the Puerto Rico vs. Mexico game on March 11 were watching the contest. On March 14, that number was 59% during the Puerto Rico vs. Dominican Republic game.

Each of the three First Round Japan games recorded higher ratings than everything else on television in Japan that week.  The U.S. vs. Japan semifinal game on March 21 had a peak rating of 25.4 (the percentage of households in the country watching the game).

In the Dominican Republic, ratings for DR games were +10% higher than during the 2013 tournament where the team went undefeated on their way to winning the title.

On the digital side, MLB.TV subscribers in the U.S. consumed a record 70 million minutes of live World Baseball Classic games on all supported streaming platforms, including the MLB.com At Bat app, throughout the 2017 tournament. Overall, World Baseball Classic video views across all MLB.com owned and operated platforms saw an increase of+59% over the 2013 tournament, with more than 3 million video accesses by fans. Total traffic to WorldBaseballClassic.com rose +41% from the 2013 tournament, with the top countries and territories outside the 50 United States being Japan, Canada, Taiwan, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

ESPN’s streaming coverage added a 3.1 percent lift to linear coverage for the entire tournament and a total of 29 million minutes streamed. The final game on WatchESPN generated 197,000 live unique viewers, 8.8 million live minutes viewed and an average minute audience of 35,000, the largest non-soccer Spanish-language streaming audience.

Big East Hoops Nets Best Season on Fox Sports
BIG EAST men’s basketball enjoyed its most watched season on the FOX broadcast network, FS1 and FS2 in 2016-17, with an overall viewership increase of +16% over last season and a huge +84% growth over the conference’s first season on FOX Sports in 2013-14.

BIG EAST men’s basketball games on FOX, FS1 and FS2 averaged 192,000 viewers per game during the 2016-17 regular season and conference tournament, compared to last year’s average of 166,000 (+16%) and the 2013-14 average of 104,000 (+84%). This season, BIG EAST regular-season games averaged 182,000 viewers per game, up +18% over last year (vs. 154,000) and up a staggering +96% over 2013-14 (vs. 93,000). 

On FS1 alone, BIG EAST men’s basketball viewership grew +20% from last year’s regular season (130,000 vs. 108,000) and +11% during the tournament (212,000 vs. 191,000). On FOX Sports GO, BIG EAST Tournament games were streamed for more than 4.4 million minutes, a +130% increase from a year ago.

ESPN’s NCAA Wrestling Championships Reaches 8.6 Million Viewers
ESPN’s three-day, six-session presentation of the NCAA Wrestling Championships (March 16-18) reached 8.6 million people on television, a healthy 6% increase over last year’s similar presentation. The NCAA Wrestling Championships Finals (March 18 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN) delivered an average total live audience (TV + streaming) of 753,000 viewers, up 12% from last year’s Championship Finals (March 19, 2016). The 2017 Championship Finals audience is the largest for the sport’s final night in the last four years and is the fourth most-watched on record.

ESPN’s entire presentation of the NCAA Wrestling Championship — six sessions across the three days — averaged a total live audience of 314,000 viewers, up 24% from last year. Similar to the Championship Finals, the 314,000 viewers, on average for each session, is ESPN’s best in the last four years.

ESPN3’s every mat, every match coverage continues to grow in popularity, as ESPN’s streaming audience increased in each of the individual six sessions for both average minute audience and total minutes watched compared to last year’s event. This is best demonstrated by Saturday night’s Championship Finals, which experienced a 21% increase in streaming average minute audience year-over-year. Additionally, fans streamed more than 3,700,000 minutes of action during the Championship Finals, also an increase of 21% over last year.

Columbus was the top-rated market, drawing a 1.6 local rating. Pittsburgh (1.4), Philadelphia (1.0), Oklahoma City (1.0), and St. Louis (0.9) round out the top 5 local markets.