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Men’s tournament draws highest viewership in six years

By Greg Johnson
NCAA.org

The 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship averaged 10.2 million viewers per game, the highest since 2005 when the tournament drew an average of 10.6 million.

Overall, the 2011 tournament averaged a 6.4 Nielsen rating, which is a 7 percent increase over the 2010 event. That includes games played in the inaugural First Four in Dayton, Ohio, March 15-16.

Connecticut’s 53-41 win over Butler in the championship game earned an 11.7 rating and drew 20.1 million viewers. Last year, the title game drew a 16.0 rating in a game that also featured Butler. The Bulldogs lost to Duke, 61-59, but the game wasn’t decided until a last-second 3-point shot by Butler’s Gordon Hayward rimmed out.

Butler led at the half of the 2011 championship but Connecticut rallied behind stars Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb.

This year is the first of a 14-year rights agreement with TBS, TNT, truTV and CBS. All 67 games of the tournament were broadcast in their entirety over those platforms.

March Madness on Demand

While the broadcasts were popular, March Madness on Demand averaged 1.9 million daily unique visits – an increase of 16 percent over last year. March Madness on Demand provided live streaming video, plus interactive television companion functionality, of every game of the new 68-team tournament.

In all, there were 52 million unique visits across the March Madness on Demand broadband and mobile platforms from Selection Sunday on March 13 through the conclusion of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship on April 4.