Ratings Roundup: NCAA Elite Eight Down Sharply From Last Year; NBCSN Delivers Best Q1 Ever

Overnight ratings for the four Elite 8 games of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on CBS/TBS were down 25% from 2015, according to SBJ’s Austin Karp. The telecasts were fraught with challenges considering they took place on Easter weekend and the Sunday games were not in primetime. In addition, The University of Kentucky’s dramatic run to the championship last year helped CBS/Turner notch the most-watched NCAA Tournament since 1993.On Saturday, CBS posted a 5.1 overnight for Oklahoma vs. Oregon (6:09 p.m. ET CBS) followed by a 7.4 for Villanova vs. Kansas (8:49 p.m. ET). TBS earned a 4.9 overnight rating for Syracuse vs. Virginia (6:09 p.m. ET) and a 6.6 for North Carolina vs. Notre Dame (8:49 p.m. ET). (Awful Announcing)…

…Viewership also declined for all four NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen telecast windows last Thursday-Friday, according to SportsMediaWatch. On Thursday, the combined audience of 8.4 million on CBS and TBS for the early window declined 39% from last year. TBS had 2.8 million for Oklahoma/Texas A&M — down 59% from Wisconsin/North Carolina last year (6.9M). On CBS, Villanova/Miami had 5.6 million, which is down 20%. The late window drew a combined 10.8 million, down 14% from last year (12.6M). Kansas/Maryland had 6.8 million on CBS (-16%) and Oregon/Duke 4.0 million on TBS (-12%).

On Friday, the early window combined for 9.9 million viewers — down 2% from last year (10.2M). The late window combined for 11.2 million, down 7% from last year (12.1M). CBS had declines for both of its Friday games, with Virginia/Iowa State down 12% (from 5.8M to 5.2M) and Syracuse/Gonzaga off 18% (from 7.6M to 6.3M). TBS posted increases for its doubleheader. Notre Dame/Wisconsin rose 10% (from 4.3M to 4.8M) and North Carolina/Indiana 11% (from 4.5M to 5.0M). (SportsMediaWatch)…

…NBCSN delivered the best first-quarter primetime viewership in the network’s history, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings. NBCSN averaged 258,000 viewers in primetime in the first quarter (December 28-March 27), up 19% from the first quarter of 2015 (217,000), and up 2% from the previous record set in the first quarter of 2009 (252,000). The record viewership was driven by NBCSN’s NHL game telecasts on Wednesday Night Rivalry and Sunday Night Hockey. In Q1, NBCSN’s Wednesday Night Rivalry averaged 594,000 viewers, up 5% vs. 2015 (568,000), while NBCSN’s Sunday Night Hockey averaged 533,000 viewers, up 49% vs. 2015 (357,000). NBCSN’s 10 most-watched NHL games this season have been either Wednesday Night Rivalry or Sunday Night Hockey matchups. In addition, NBCSN’s presentation of the 2016 NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 31 was the most-watched NHL All-Star Game in the network’s history. The game averaged 1.595 million viewers, up 34% vs. 2015 (1.194 million). NBCSN averaged 100,000 viewers for Q1 Total Day (6 a.m.-6 a.m.), up 11% from the first quarter of 2015 (90,000)…

…For the first quarter of 2016, ESPN led all cable networks in prime time among all the key male demo groups – 18+, 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.  In addition, the network was tops among viewers 18-34 and 18-49. Among all viewers, ESPN placed second – behind only Fox News. ESPN was also second among viewers 18+. To put these numbers in perspective with the rest of the cable industry, two years ago ESPN was in fourth among viewers…

…Golf Channel’s first quarter in 2016 was up +15% vs. 2015 for viewership, building upon last year’s increasing growth in second quarter of +3%, third quarter of +8%, and fourth quarter of +13%. For 24-hour Total Day (6AM-6AM), 110,000 average viewers per minute were tuned into Golf Channel in the first quarter, representing the 15% year-over-year increase, as well as a 19% increase with people 25-54 (31,000). NBC’s PGA TOUR average viewership is up 32% and people 25-54 +31%. Through 12 broadcasts, NBC is averaging 2.64 million average viewers and 657,000 people 25-54. PGA TOUR live coverage on Golf Channel is +4% YOY (483,000 average viewers), +9% with P25-54 (101,000 average viewers), while live coverage of the European Tour was up 65% and LPGA Tour was up 3%.

Golf Channel’s live golf coverage peaked in first quarter with 1.8 million average viewers on Sunday afternoon during the semifinals of the WGC-Dell Match Play and coverage averaged 1.1 million viewers, the best at this event since 2008.

Golf Channel’s primetime is +27% (151,000 average viewers), driven in part by the sixth season premiere of Feherty interviewing Jordan Spieth, which is now the most-watched episode of the critically acclaimed series (436,000 average viewers, Live+3 Day). Meanwhile, Golf Central saw its strongest first quarter since 2013, up 29% with average viewers and 30% for people 25-54 vs. last year. Morning Drive was up 27% with people 25-54 vs. 2015.

Sunday’s Syracuse/Tennessee Women’s NCAA Tournament Elite Eight game scored 1.4 million viewers on ESPN, up 16% from Notre Dame/Baylor in primetime last year (1.2M). Earlier in the day, Washington/Stanford had 1.0 million — up 11% from South Carolina/Florida State last year (930K). On Monday, Connecticut/Texas delivered 1.3 million viewers on ESPN — down 5% from Connecticut/Dayton last year. The Oregon State/Baylor nightcap also had 1.3 million, down 14% from Maryland/Tennessee last year (1.5M). (SMW)

…ESPN2’s March 29 telecast of the U.S. Men’s National Team victory over Guatemala in Columbus, Ohio, delivered an average audience of 954,000 viewers, making it ESPN’s most-watched CONCACAF semifinal round match since the company started televising the FIFA World Cup qualifying series. The audience surpassed the previous high –902,000 viewers for the US Men’s National Team vs. Jamaica match on Sept. 11, 2012 (ESPN2). The top-10 markets: Columbus, Ohio (2.2), Baltimore (1.4), Tulsa (1.4), Norfolk-Newport News (1.3), Cincinnati (1.3), St. Louis (1.2), West Palm Beach (1.1), Atlanta (1.1), Denver (1.1), and Jacksonville (1.0).

USA-Guatemala was also the most-watched FIFA World Cup qualifier on WatchESPN, attracting an additional 43,000 average minute impressions to the TV audience with 152,000 live unique viewers and 6.1 million live minutes viewed…

… ESPN’s historic MLB telecast from Cuba on March 22 (Tampa Bay Ray defeated the Cuban National Team) was the highest-rated MLB preseason telecast – Spring Training or exhibition – on any network since 2004. It generated a 0.8 metered market rating. The game was played in front of approximately 55,000 fans, including President Barack Obama, at Estadio Latinoamericano, in Havana, Cuba. Locally, the telecast delivered a 3.9 rating in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market, which is the best on record for an ESPN Spring Training or exhibition game in the market.

In addition, it became the most-streamed MLB preseason game ever on WatchESPN, generating 5.4 million total minutes viewed and 99,000 unique viewers. This beats the previous record of 1.2 million total minutes viewed and 27,000 unique viewers, set on March 17, 2015 for the Boston Red Sox-Atlanta Braves Spring Training game…