 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
Right direction NCAA title game ratings rise 10 percent from 2000
NEW YORK (AP) -- A tight title game between preseason contenders from opposite coasts helped the NCAA men's basketball tournament stem its recent TV ratings slide. CBS Sports' broadcast of Duke's 82-72 victory over Arizona on Monday night drew a 15.6 national rating. The good news for the network is that it's a 10.5 percent increase over last year's record low. The bad news: Monday's rating still ranks as the second lowest since at least 1975, according to Nielsen Media Research. TV ratings for the championship game had declined each of the previous three years, mirroring the trend of dropping viewership for most major sports events. The 2 1/2-week tournament finished with an average rating of 6.5, up slightly from 2000's 6.4, the low mark in the 20 years CBS has televised the event. Each rating point represents a little more than 1 million U.S. television households. CBS agreed in 1999 to retain the rights for the three-week tournament by paying $6 billion for an 11-year contract, which takes effect in 2003. The new deal roughly doubles the network's per-year payment. According to CBS, 42 million people tuned in for at least six minutes of Monday's game. And the telecast drew 22 percent higher ratings among men 18-49 than did the 2000 championship game between Michigan State and Florida. Arizona and Duke were the top two teams in the preseason AP poll, and the Blue Devils entered the NCAA tourney as No. 1. The teams were separated by two points at halftime Monday, and while Duke surged ahead early in the second half, Arizona made a couple of runs to tighten the score and was within three points with less than three minutes left. Ratings were off 3 percent, meanwhile, for the women's championship, in which Notre Dame edged Purdue 68-66 Sunday night on ESPN. That game drew a 3.3 cable rating. The women's semifinal games, though, were up 24 percent. ESPN's tournament coverage drew an overall average rating of 1.1, about even with last year, while ratings on ESPN2 were up about 25 percent.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
