NCAA: March Madness Sees Strong Audience Growth

The NCAA has released figures showing that the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship and the Division 1 Women’s Basketball Championship both saw strong audience growth in opening rounds.

Through Saturday, the Men's Championship viewing on CBS, TBS, TVT and truTV averaged 9 million per game, a record while ESPN reported that the Women's second round games also set viewing records.

In terms of the Men’s Championship, the NCAA reported that millions of fans tuned to linear coverage on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, beginning with the Selection Show on March 17, when 5.9 million viewers tuned in to CBS for the bracket unveiling. That number was up 16 percent from last year and is the best total in five years.

First Four games attracted a total of 6.2 million viewers, up 14 percent from last year and the second highest total for Tuesday and Wednesday at the First Four since the format debuted in 2011.

First-round games Thursday and Friday drew an average 8.53 million viewers, which is the third most in tournament history, behind last year's total of 8.62 million and the 8.56 million who watched in 2015. Thursday's average of 8.5 million viewers makes it the most-watched opening day of the first round since 2015, and Friday's average of 8.6 million viewers is the second most ever for the Friday of the first round, trailing only last year's 8.8 million.

For the Men’s Championship games, the numbers got even better on the weekend. Saturday's games averaged 10.8 million viewers across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, making it the most-watched first day of the second round ever. That brought the tournament average through Saturday's games up to 9.0 million viewers, making it the most-watched tournament through that stage in the history of the event.

"The Division I Men's Basketball Championship is off to a captivating and enthralling start by every measure," said JoAn Scott, the NCAA's vice president for men's basketball. "We should never take for granted the way the men's basketball championship delivers every March, and this year the tournament is as popular as it has been in many years. The competitiveness and talent of the student-athletes and teams leads to compelling performances and stories. March Madness is unlike anything else on the sports calendar, and the next two weeks of the tournament should be special."

For the Women’s Championship, ratings also continued to soar, with millions of fans tuning into coverage across ESPN platforms, inclusive of ABC, the NCAA reported.

The NCAA Women's Selection Show on ESPN, which aired March 17, averaged 1.94 million viewers, which was up 52% from the 2023 Selection Show and was the most-watched edition in 20 years. Fueled by 236,000 viewers for the Arizona-Auburn game on March 21, First Four games averaged 184,000 viewers, up 24% from last year.

ESPN reported that the second Round games averaged 1.4 million viewers across ESPN platforms, becoming the most-watched Second Round on record. Viewership was also up 121% year-over-year, including ESPN recording its most-viewed Second Round on record with an average of 1.5 million viewers across two days.

Tennessee/NC State and South Carolina/UNC each averaged 1.2 million to rank within the Top 10 most-watched games on record. 2024 Women’s NCAA Division I Women’s Championship is averaging 812,000 viewers through this point, up 108%. The Championship has amassed 4.2 billion total minutes, marking the most-consumed early rounds on record.

The NCAA also reported that 2024 DI Women’s Basketball Championship celebrated record-setting attendance record for a third consecutive season. A total of 292,456 fans came through the turnstiles to watch first- and second-round games, an increase of 60,779 fans over 2023, when a then-record 231,677 fans attended. Iowa City topped all hosting sites, welcoming sellout crowds totaling 28,764 fans for the first and second rounds, marking three straight years of sellouts at Carver Hawkeye Arena, with Caitlin Clark leading the way.

Attendance at the opening rounds also helped to push the all-time NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship attendance over the 9 million mark, with 9,290,650 fans attending over the 41-plus years of the championship.