CBS + Turner have best viewership for Sweet 16 since 1993

[Drew]

I’m guessing the standalone S16 games are here to stay

 

[businesslawyer]

Yeah, because they were on the weekend rather than weeknights. Guess what that will mean for the ratings for the Regional Finals, on Monday and Tuesday rather than Saturday and sunday?

 

[connVA]

Yeah, because they were on the weekend rather than weeknights. Guess what that will mean for the ratings for the Regional Finals, on Monday and Tuesday rather than Saturday and sunday?

Coming soon: 6-week NCAA tourney with one round per weekend. That would be utterly insane but I would put nothing past the NCAA / networks to generate more eyeballs and dough at this point.

 

[freescooter]

Conference Tournaments on the other hand were off by 8-30%. Note the NBE was off 23 %. Finished behind every major, and several mid-majors. Lowest ratings since 2015. It did best the AAC slightly this year though lost to the A10 and MW. But maybe the day of meaningless tournaments is at long last over.

 

[UconnU]

Conference Tournaments on the other hand were off by 8-30%. Note the NBE was off 23 %. Finished behind every major, and several mid-majors. Lowest ratings since 2015. It did best the AAC slightly this year though lost to the A10 and MW. But maybe the day of meaningless tournaments is at long last over.

I would be interested in a regional breakdown of viewership. I would bet the NBE tourney over performed in places like Tampa and Raleigh. While greatly underperforming in traditional markets. You would think viewership would be up across the board with so many people staying at home to watch the games as opposed to going to bars.

 

[Kolumbo]

It's been 2 years and you can't watch it live.

 

[Devland]

All the people who normally watch in pubs and arena's are watching from home. There is no apples to apples comparison.

 

[metsfan2323]

It does make sense to have the sweet sixteen round on the weekends. More time to spread out the games.

 

[ZenConn]

Well, yeah. It only needed a gazillion upsets to make that happen - everyone picked their own Cinderella team after the 1st day and followed them. I'm just seeing a strong correlation between viewership and busted bracket sheets being thrown into the fire.

 

[Travelman6]

Not a shock with all these lockdowns and curfews and things being shut down, plus more key games on the weekend. More people have limited options in regard to things to do, so they tune in.

 

[freescooter]

Really every conference final was way down except 1. You would think they would be up this year. We weren’t the worst at down23%. You have to wonder if the public is getting tired of these made for tv events that rarely have an impact on anything. The Big East this year was the exception in getting a not very good team a bid. But it didn’t cost the others their bids. It basically didn’t matter to UConn, Creighton or Villanova what happened. Just extend the season buy 2-3 games and make the season champ the auto bid winner. So Connecticut fans don’t panic, arrange to end every season against St Johns at MSG. But this isn’t just a NBE issue. In a pandemic when people are encouraged to stay home, viewership of these “championships” are falling. Something is up. My theory is that they are meaningless and people know it.

As far as the NBE tv ratings, they are usually not very good. Even when they get “high” ones they typically lose the time slot to other leagues. In part it is that they are on a 3rd tier network, and even when they are on FOX it isn’t really a basketball network.

the other problem is the makeup of the league. Outside Villanova and UConn, there is nobody with a history (sorry but Georgetown in the 1980s doesn’t matter any more than Providence winning the NIT in the 60s) nobody with a national presence, and no real rivalries. Actually not even a regional presence. Just a bunch of schools playing basketball at a pretty high level except DePaul. The original Big East was identifiable as eastern urban basketball. Even with a couple of outliers, it had that feel...That is gone too.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yeah, because they were on the weekend rather than weeknights. Guess what that will mean for the ratings for the Regional Finals, on Monday and Tuesday rather than Saturday and sunday?

Monday and Tuesday are the weekends? The only change I see is Sat-Sun-Mon-Tues instead of Th-Fri-Sat-Sun. Avoiding Thursday and Friday nights seems to be the advantage. UConn-Baylor put up big numbers on a Monday night as well.

 

[BapeKidd88]

Really every conference final was way down except 1. You would think they would be up this year. We weren’t the worst at down23%. You have to wonder if the public is getting tired of these made for tv events that rarely have an impact on anything. The Big East this year was the exception in getting a not very good team a bid. But it didn’t cost the others their bids. It basically didn’t matter to UConn, Creighton or Villanova what happened. Just extend the season buy 2-3 games and make the season champ the auto bid winner. So Connecticut fans don’t panic, arrange to end every season against St Johns at MSG. But this isn’t just a NBE issue. In a pandemic when people are encouraged to stay home, viewership of these “championships” are falling. Something is up. My theory is that they are meaningless and people know it.

As far as the NBE tv ratings, they are usually not very good. Even when they get “high” ones they typically lose the time slot to other leagues. In part it is that they are on a 3rd tier network, and even when they are on FOX it isn’t really a basketball network.

the other problem is the makeup of the league. Outside Villanova and UConn, there is nobody with a history (sorry but Georgetown in the 1980s doesn’t matter any more than Providence winning the NIT in the 60s) nobody with a national presence, and no real rivalries. Actually not even a regional presence. Just a bunch of schools playing basketball at a pretty high level except DePaul. The original Big East was identifiable as eastern urban basketball. Even with a couple of outliers, it had that feel...That is gone too.

Agree with everything you said.

 

[businesslawyer]

Monday and Tuesday are the weekends? The only change I see is Sat-Sun-Mon-Tues instead of Th-Fri-Sat-Sun. Avoiding Thursday and Friday nights seems to be the advantage. UConn-Baylor put up big numbers on a Monday night as well.

LMAO. If you're going to say I'm wrong, make some effort to make sure you are right. The original post was not the combined numbers for the Saturday -- Tuesday games. The original post was solely about the "Sweet 16" games played Saturday and Sunday. Not only was that clear from the tweet, but IT WAS POSTED BEFORE HALF THE ELITE EIGHT GAMES WERE EVEN PLAYED!

 

[HuskyHawk]

LMAO. If you're going to say I'm wrong, make some effort to make sure you are right. The original post was not the combined numbers for the Saturday -- Tuesday games. The original post was solely about the "Sweet 16" games played Saturday and Sunday. Not only was that clear from the tweet, but IT WAS POSTED BEFORE HALF THE ELITE EIGHT GAMES WERE EVEN PLAYED

Yes, I was looking at Drew's original comment. So you are correct, and it seems that the Elite 8 got clobbered on M-T

 

[freescooter]

Yes, I was looking at Drew's original comment. So you are correct, and it seems that the Elite 8 got clobbered on M-T

Well you know they were up against some tough competition. The Neighbors ( or the Neighborhood?). On Monday and NCIS on Tuesday. And let’s not forget American Housewife...didn’t Norwalk sue them for having people dress like pregnant Norwalk cheerleaders or something? Can’t miss a great show like that!

 

[August_West]

Leave the schdeduling alone. I was happy to get games this year, but the TV scheduling sucked ass.