Saturday Ratings: Saint Peter’s Cinderella NCAA Run Propels CBS

Saturday, March 19, 2022
Fast Affiliate Data (time period based)

Total Viewers:
CBS: 5.62 million, NBC: 1.68, ABC: 0.93, Fox: 0.80, CW: 0.51

Adults 18-49:
CBS: 1.4 rating/13 share, ABC: 0.2/ 2, NBC: 0.2/ 1, Fox and CW: 0.1/ 1 each

March Madness took center stage on Saturday night. While there were men’s NCAA tournament games airing on TBS and TNT, it was CBS that led all In basketball coverage. (Meanwhile, the networks of ESPN televised the first round of the women’s NCAA basketball tournament.)

CBS’ game featured two previously little-known universities: Saint Peter’s (from Jersey City, NJ) and Murray State (alma mater of NBA star Ja Morant; college from the state of Kentucky). Saint Peter’s 70-60 win advanced them to the Sweet Sixteen, becoming the third 15-seed in NCAA history to accomplish this feat.

Since their improbable 85-79 upset victory over powerhouse Kentucky in the tournament’s first round on Mar. 17, Saint Peter’s has gotten national prominence, especially within the TV market they call home: the nation’s No. 1 TV market, New York. Last night’s results (as noted in the averages above) reflect the increased attention.

Another sports team from the New York market also competed on the night, but their contest — the New York Rangers, playing the Tampa Bay Lightning on ABC’s NHL coverage, attracted a mere fraction of college basketball’s audience from CBS (again, as noted in the figures above).

Keep in mind that results for any live sports are always approximate.

The other networks’ programs were also scarcely sampled, opposite the NCAA: a two-hour edition of NBC’s “Dateline” (Viewers: #2, 1.61 million; A18-49: #3t, 0.1/ 1 at 8-10 p.m.), the season finale of The CW’s “Great Chocolate Showdown” (Viewers: #5, 0.50 million; A18-49: #3t, 0.3/ 3 at 8-9 p.m.) and The CW’s “World’s Funniest Animals” (Viewers: #5, 0.51 million; A18-49: #3t, 0.0/ 0 at 9-10 p.m.).

Fox aired reruns of “9-1-1” and “The Cleaning Lady.”

UPDATED 3/28/2022: What follows are the Live + Seven Day rating results for the night’s network telecasts on Saturday, March 19:

Source: Nielsen Media Research