Why March Madness Is Great For TV
4.37 million viewers tuned in to the #1 vs #16 matchup to watch FDU pull of the 2nd ever upset of its kind.
Photo Credit: Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Columbus, Ohio (PSF) - As TV ratings emerge from the first weekend of March Madness, it is becoming clear that brackets are not the only reason fans are tuning in to games now more than ever. According to March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (a combination of TBS, CBS, TNT, truTV, and March Madness Live), day two of competition last Friday brought in an average of 9.3 million viewers, which is the most for a second day ever. The average for all first-round games was 9.2 million, also breaking the all-time record for a day one-day two combination. The NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament shattered its all-time first-round record with an average of 391,000 viewers per game.
Compare these numbers to the NBA, which just saw their All-Star Game amass just 4.59 million viewers in February. That specific game received a 2.2 rating. In 2021, there were 6 million All-Star Game viewers. Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals averaged 14 million viewers. Compare that to the NCAA Championship Game last season, which averaged 18.1 million viewers. Is college basketball better than NBA basketball?
Despite Jayson Tatum’s “double nickel” (55 points) in the 2023 All Star Game, ratings reached an all-time low.
Photo Credit: Yahoo! Sports
The format for the NCAA Tournament is nearly perfect for viewership. Just looking at a bracket with all these teams on it will force anybody to fill it out. An empty bracket just isn’t acceptable. People fill out brackets for Disney movies, ice cream flavors, you name it. The one-game series increases the stakes for each matchup. Would FDU beat Purdue in a 7-game series? Absolutely not, but this is why the tournament is so sought out months in advance. It’s unpredictable, and it continues to be so. You just can’t be angry when a complete underdog takes down a basketball titan. In college football, a team from the Patriot League could never make the playoffs. In college basketball, we get to watch the Patriot League’s Colgate almost upset a two or three seed almost every year in recent history.
Another reason people remain intrigued in college basketball is the shifting in teams each year. Alabama came out of nowhere this season to find its place atop the league. North Carolina was the first overall seed on the preseason AP poll and didn’t even make the tournament. The way the tournament is designed to include mid-major champions as well as high-major champions and at-large winners keeps it fresh.
Not known for basketball, the Alabama Crimson Tide Men’s Basketball team finished the season as the first overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Photo Credit: BamaOnLine
Going back to the NBA, where (at least early round) series are more predictable and teams shift around less in the standings year-to-year than in college. It is harder to remember great NBA Playoff moments this time of year, but in a month or so, they will return as strong as ever. If the NBA ran a tournament just like college basketball, it would be a catastrophe. There are only 30 teams, so the great ones should be rewarded with home-court advantage and drawing lower-seeded opponents. It works for March Madness, but not for the NBA.
The moral of the story is to not use TV ratings to indicate that college basketball is better than the NBA. The excitement of win-or-go-home scenarios in every matchup is an advantage for the NCAA that the NBA can’t and shouldn't replicate. March Madness is designed for viewership, but the NBA sells more jerseys. The NBA is watched more globally and is populated by more international players. The NBA is more profitable than ever, and so is the sports industry. Fans should be encouraged to see pre-professional sports get such viewership, not discouraged that the NBA is “losing ground.” Both leagues benefit as well as their fanbases.
