The final ratings & viewership indicate that the Final Four & National Championship game did not take a hit due to the fact that it was on TBS. According to several places including Forbes & Deadline, the Men’s Tournament Final was the most watched Title Game ever on Cable television.
18,500,000 on average tuned into Kansas’ comeback over North Carolina, which is an increase over last year’s Baylor vs Gonzaga Final where the former ended the latter’s quest for a perfect season.
For the site’s contest: PhatBoi, Randy, Kevin, Mike, Seabreeze, and CU round out the Top 6 in terms of the final placement in the Bracket Contest.
There was case for concern for a ratings dive with the New Orleans games on cable TV. TBS and CBS rotate annually, so that’s that. Duke’s fall may have added to the concern, but the fact is, with a blue blood exclusive Final Four, it was more probable than not that the numbers were going to be decent.
Overall, March Madness over TBS, CBS, TNT, and TruTV hit a 10.7 rating on average and had 10,700,000 viewers in 2022.
As mentioned, Turner and CBS are on a rotation that was extended from mid-decade to early next decade. CBS, who aired the previous two Final Fours & National Championship Games, had the super bowl in the same TV year. Going forward, they are no longer scheduled to air the Super Bowl in the same season as the Men’s Final Four/NCG. The reason is due to a new NFL television contract where ESPN/ABC joins in turning a three-year network rotation into a four-year one. FWIW, NBC and CBS swapped places for 2021 which allowed for NBC to air the Olympics and the Super Bowl for the second consecutive time that network had the big game. Of course, the switch put an end to a scenario where there would have been a clash between the winter games and the Super Bowl, but going forward, NBC will have the Super Bowl and winter Olympics in the same TV season.
It makes me wonder if CBS will try to swap years with Turner so that they can have the Super Bowl, Final Four, The Masters and the PGA Championship one after each other. That was a nice line up for the network. As a courtesy, they could switch with Turner starting next year (and go even years instead of odd years). It would make up for TBS losing it in 2020, but knowing CBS, if a move were to be made, they would want to start in 2024 (as CBS has the Super Bowl in that year and then 2028 & 2032).
Nevertheless, apart from that, I can’t really tell a difference. It’s basically the same thing regardless of who airs the Final 3 games. There is a difference with their pregame and postgame coverage, but not too much. It’s a blessing that CBS/Turner have the NCAA Tournament, and it looks like they’ll have it for the rest of time until they’re ready to move on from it
