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Friday Final Nationals: NCAA Tournament Draws Closer to Recent Years’ Levels with Day 2 Action on CBS and Turner Sports

CBS and ABC again shared leadership on this Friday but switched places from their normal ways to victory: ABC drew the most average total viewers on the night with 5.9 million while CBS took the crown in all key demos.

With several exciting finishes and upsets in prime time, the NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball Tournament on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV on Friday made up for some of the year-to-year audience declines from Day 1.

On CBS, the averages of both prime time game telecasts on Day 2 of the tournament:

3/18/16: 3.2 rating/6 share, 5.167 million viewers

3/20/15: 2.4 rating/5 share, 3.733 million viewers

Thru Friday Mar. 18, counting the four “First Four” games on truTV from Mar. 15-16 but not factoring the four afternoon CBS games from Mar. 17-18, the tournament has so far averaged 8.853 million total viewers across the four networks: -6 percent from 2015 (9.377 million), -2 percent from 2014 (9.031 million) and +2 percent from 2013 (8.676 million).

Here is the viewer rundown of the twelve games that aired on the three cable networks during the day:

TBS
California vs. Hawaii (1:52-4:24) 932,000
Maryland vs. South Dakota State (4:40-7:08) 1.598 million
Texas A&M vs. Green Bay (7:08-9:36) 1.566 million
Texas vs. Northern Iowa (9:54-12:26) 2.067 million

TNT
Oregon State vs. VCU (1:21-3:44) 932,000
Oklahoma vs. CSU Bakersfield (4:02-6:31) 1.641 million
Wisconsin vs. Pittsburgh (6:46-8:56) 2.772 million
Xavier vs. Weber State (9:12-11:21) 1.307 million

truTV
Villanova vs. UNC-Asheville (12:30-2:49) 511,000
Iowa vs. Temple (3:05-5:42) 1.092 million
Oregon vs. Holy Cross (7:40-9:56) 651,000
St. Joseph’s vs. Cincinnati (10:11-12:31) 916,000

For mobile users, you may scroll this table horizontally.


























Programming Insider Friday, March 18, 2016
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-11 Network Average 3.8/7 5898 0.7/4 1.2/5 1.7/5
8:00 Last Man Standing 4.4/9 7041 0.7/4 1.2/5 1.8/6
8:31 Dr. Ken 3.4/6 5227 0.6/3 1.0/4 1.5/5
9:00 Shark Tank 4.0/7 6125 0.8/4 1.3/5 1.9/6
10:01 20/20 3.6/7 5392 0.7/4 1.2/4 1.6/5
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-11 Network Average 3.5/7 5701 1.4/7 1.8/7 2.1/7
7:00 NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round West Virginia vs. Stephen F. Austin (s) 3.0/6 4960 1.2/7 1.5/7 1.7/6
9:49 College Basketball Bridge (s) 3.6/7 5865 1.3/6 1.8/7 2.1/7
10:05 NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round Notre Dame vs. Michigan (s) (thru 12:11am) 3.4/7 5445 1.4/7 1.8/7 2.0/7
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-11 Network Average 2.8/5 4330 0.4/2 0.9/3 1.2/4
8:00 Caught on Camera with Nick Cannon 2.3/4 3618 0.4/2 0.7/3 0.9/3
9:00 Grimm 2.6/5 4202 0.5/2 1.0/3 1.3/4
10:00 Dateline NBC 3.5/7 5169 0.4/2 1.0/4 1.4/4
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-10 Network Average 1.5/3 2376 0.5/2 0.6/2 0.8/3
8:00 Sleepy Hollow 1.8/3 2827 0.5/3 0.8/3 1.0/3
9:01 Second Chance 1.3/2 1909 0.4/2 0.5/2 0.6/2
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-10 Network Average 0.4/1 530 0.1/1 0.1/1 0.2/1
8:00 The Vampire Diaries (r) 0.4/1 579 0.2/1 0.2/1 0.2/1
9:00 The Originals (r) 0.4/1 480 0.2/1 0.1/1 0.2/1
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-11 Network Average 1.1/2 1975 0.8/3
7:00 Un Camino Hacia El Destino 0.9/2 1604 0.5/2
8:01 Sueño de Amor 1.0/2 1880 0.7/3
9:01 Pasion y Poder 1.2/2 2194 0.8/3
10:04 El Hotel de Los Secretos 1.1/2 1833 0.7/3
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
7:00 Major League Soccer NYCFC vs. Orlando (thru 9:04) 0.2/0 280 0.1/1

Sub-Demo Breakdowns – Friday 03/18/16

“Last Man Standing” (ABC)
Women 18-34: 0.8/4
Men 18-34: 0.6/3
Women 18-49: 1.4/6
Men 18-49: 1.0/4

“Dr. Ken” (ABC)
Women 18-34: 0.8/4
Men 18-34: 0.5/2
Women 18-49: 1.2/4
Men 18-49: 0.8/3

“Shark Tank” (ABC)
Women 18-34: 0.9/4
Men 18-34: 0.7/4
Women 18-49: 1.5/5
Men 18-49: 1.2/5

“20/20” (ABC)
Women 18-34: 0.9/4
Men 18-34: 0.6/3
Women 18-49: 1.4/5
Men 18-49: 0.9/3

“NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round: West Virginia vs. Stephen F. Austin<” (CBS)
Women 18-34: 0.8/4
Men 18-34: 1.6/9
Women 18-49: 1.1/5
Men 18-49: 1.9/9

“NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round: Notre Dane vs. Michigan<” (CBS)
Women 18-34: 0.9/4
Men 18-34: 1.9/10
Women 18-49: 1.2/4
Men 18-49: 2.4/10

“Caught on Camera with Nick Cannon” (NBC)
Women 18-34: 0.4/2
Men 18-34: 0.3/2
Women 18-49: 0.8/3
Men 18-49: 0.6/3

“Grimm” (NBC)
Women 18-34: 0.6/3
Men 18-34: 0.4/2
Women 18-49: 1.0/4
Men 18-49: 0.9/3

“Dateline NBC” (NBC)
Women 18-34: 0.6/3
Men 18-34: 0.3/1
Women 18-49: 1.3/4
Men 18-49: 0.7/3

“Sleepy Hollow” (Fox)
Women 18-34: 0.6/3
Men 18-34: 0.5/3
Women 18-49: 0.8/3
Men 18-49: 0.7/3

“Second Chance” (Fox)
Women 18-34: 0.4/2
Men 18-34: 0.3/2
Women 18-49: 0.6/2
Men 18-49: 0.5/2

Cable Rankings – Friday 03/18/16

What follows are the top 20 most-watched shows in prime time on cable for Friday, March 18:


  1. “NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round: East Region: (#7) Wisconsin vs. (#10) Pittsburgh” (TNT, 6:46-8:56‪ p.m.‬, 1.63 household rating): 2.772 million viewers (0.97 adults 18-49 rating)

  2. “The Kelly File” (Fox News Channel, 9-10 p.m.): 2.483 (0.26)

  3. “NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round: West Region: (#6) Texas vs. (#11) Northern Iowa” (TBS, 9:54‪ p.m.‬-12:26 a.m., 1.27 household rating): 2.067 million viewers (0.80 adults 18-49 rating)

  4. “The O’Reilly Factor Special” (Fox News Channel, 8-9 p.m.): 2.036 (0.18)

  5. “Hannity” (Fox News Channel, 10-11 p.m.): 1.672 (0.25)

  6. “Stuck in the Middle” (Disney Channel, 8:30-9:00 p.m.): 1.666 (0.30)

  7. “Yukon Men” (Discovery, 10-11 p.m.): 1.657 (0.36)

  8. “House Hunters” (HGTV, 10-10:30 p.m.): 1.654 (0.38)

  9. “House Hunters International” (HGTV, 10:30-11 p.m.): 1.648 (0.34)

  10. “NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball Bridge” (TNT, ‪8:56-9:12 p.m‬., 0.95 household rating): 1.620 million viewers (0.62 adults 18-49 rating)

  11. “Family Guy” (Adult Swim, 10:30-11 p.m.): 1.574 (0.70)

  12. “NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round: West Region: (#3) Texas A&M vs. (#14) Green Bay ” (TBS, 7:08-9:36‪ p.m‬., 0.91 household rating): 1.566 million viewers (0.61 adults 18-49 rating)

  13. “Liv and Maddie” (Disney Channel, 9:00-9:30 p.m.): 1.531 (0.25)

  14. “K.C. Undercover” (Disney Channel, 9:30-10:00 p.m.): 1.527 (0.24)

  15. “Real Time with Bill Maher” (HBO, 10-10:57 p.m.): 1.460 (0.31)

  16. “American Pickers” (History, 8-8:59 p.m.): 1.408 (0.24)

  17. “CNN Tonight” (CNN, 10-11 p.m.): 1.394 (0.23)

  18. “American Dad” (Adult Swim, 10-10:30 p.m.): 1.370 (0.60)

  19. “BUNK’D” (Disney Channel, 8:00-8:30 p.m.): 1.366 (0.26)

  20. “Love It or List It” (HGTV, 9-10 p.m.): 1.341 (0.30)


  • “NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round: East Region: (#2) Xavier vs. (#15) Weber State” (TNT, 9:12-11:21‪ p.m.‬, 0.79 household rating): 1.307 million viewers (0.49 adults 18-49 rating)

  • “NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball Bridge” (TBS, ‪9:36-9:54 p.m‬., 0.75 household rating): 1.205 million viewers (0.45 adults 18-49 rating)

  • “Bring It!” (Lifetime, 9-10:07 p.m.): 1.189 (0.48)

  • “CNN Tonight” (CNN, 9-10 p.m.): 1.122 (0.17)

  • “Anderson Cooper 360” (CNN, 8-9 p.m.): 1.049 (0.18)

  • “A Stranger in My Home” (ID, 10-11 p.m.): 0.966 (0.25)

  • “American Restoration” (History, 10-11:03 p.m.): 0.953 (0.16)

  • “Say Yes to the Dress” (TLC, 9:00-10:05 p.m.): 0.949 (0.19)

  • “Burgers, Brew & ‘Que” (Food Network, 10:30-11 p.m.): 0.924 (0.30)

  • “NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round: West Region: (#8) St. Joseph’s vs. (#9) Cincinnati” (truTV, 10:11 p.m.-12:31‪ a.m.‬, 0.57 household rating): 0.916 million viewers (0.35 adults 18-49 rating)

  • “Jill & Jessa: First Look” (TLC, 8:53-9 p.m.): 0.873 (0.21)

  • “Love Lust or Run” (TLC, 10:05-11:06 p.m.): 0.866 (0.21)

  • “NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball Bridge” (truTV, ‪9:56-10:11 p.m‬., 0.41 household rating): 0.697 million viewers (0.24 adults 18-49 rating)

  • “NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball First Round: West Region: (#1) Oregon vs. (#16) Holy Cross” (truTV, 7:40-9:56 p.m‪.‬, 0.41 household rating): 0.651 million viewers (0.20 adults 18-49 rating)

  • “Insane Pools: Off the Deep End” (Animal Planet, 9:01-10:02 p.m.): 0.645 (0.17)

  • “College Wrestling: NCAA Championships, Semifinals” (ESPN, ‪8:00-10:57 p.m‬., 0.28 household rating): 0.463 million viewers (0.16 adults 18-49 rating)


Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research

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