Ratings Roundup: First Four Up on Opening Night, CBS Selection Sunday Show Takes Dive

truTV’s exclusive live doubleheader coverage of the First Four of the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship on Tuesday, March 13 (6:30 p.m.-12 a.m. ET), averaged a 0.9 metered market household rating.  In 2011, the First Four averaged a 0.9 overnight metered market household rating through the first four telecasts. Both of Tuesday night’s truTV telecasts – Mississippi Valley State vs. Western Kentucky (6:30-9:15 p.m.) and BYU vs. Iona (9:45 p.m.-12 a.m.) – earned a 0.9 metered market household rating, according to Nielsen…

…Overnight ratings for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show were the lowest since before many current college basketball players were born. CBS earned a 4.0 overnight rating for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show Sunday evening, down 9% from last year (4.4), and down 17% from 2010 (4.8). The 4.0 overnight is the lowest for the Selection Show since the program first expanded to an hour in 1995, and the lowest overall since at least 1989. Overnight ratings for the Selection Show prior to 1990 were not immediately available…

…The 2012 SEC Championship Game, won by Vanderbilt in an upset over #1 Kentucky, earned a 2.1 overnight rating on ABC — up 17% from last year (UK/UF: 1.8), but down 22% from 2010 (UK/MISS ST: 2.7). As usual, the game faced competition from other college basketball action on Sunday — the ACC Championship Game on ESPN and the Atlantic-10 Championship Game on CBS…

…The quarterfinal matchup between Ohio St. and Purdue at the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament scored as the highest-rated basketball game in BTN history, according to Nielsen metered market data. The game drew an average household rating of 3.11 across the network’s eight metered markets, besting the previous record by 40% and scored as the top cable program in Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Indianapolis that day. Meanwhile, the other quarterfinal matchup featuring Michigan/Minnesota scored a 2.07 HH rating for the channel and was the top-rated cable program in Minneapolis…

…NBC Sports Network made its MLS broadcast debut on Sunday, with a matchup between FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls. The game drew a 0.07 national household rating and 82,000 viewers. With better distribution for the channel, the figure did score a sharp increase over the opening telecast on FOX Soccer last year…

…Saturday’s MLS debut of Montreal Impact against Vancouver Whitecaps FC was the most-watched MLS game ever in Canada. Overnight data from BBM Canada confirms that an average audience of 541,000 viewers watched the all-Canadian match-up on TSN (288,000) and RDS (253,000). Almost 2.5 million Canadians tuned in to catch some or all of the live MLS action on TSN and RDS…

…The UFC helped deliver FUEL TV to record audiences in February, according to Nielsen, bolstered by the channel’s Fight Week and the inaugural UFC Fight Night. During the month, the network aired a total of 233 hours of UFC programs, which helped propel the channel to its most-watched month in network history, finishing up 100% on both Total Viewers and M18-49, compared to Feb. 2011. The week of February 13 – 19 scored as the most-watched week in network history with Total Day average finishing up 260% on both Total Viewers and M18-49 vs. the same week last year and UFC Fight Night on FUEL TV on Feb. 15 became the most-watched program in network history with 217,000 total viewers and 130,000 M18-49, for gains of 1347% and 2067%, respectively, vs. Feb. 2011.

Password must contain the following:

A lowercase letter

A capital (uppercase) letter

A number

Minimum 8 characters

;
SVGLogoHR_NOTAG-200

The Latest in Sports Video Production & Technology
in Your Inbox for FREE

Daily Email Newsletters Monday - Friday