NCAA Championship Draw Basketball’s Largest Audience Since 2019 NBA Finals
Share this article:The championship game in the NCAA men’s tournament drew the largest audience for a basketball game since the concluding game of the 2019 NBA Finals, despite Baylor leading from the instant it scored the game’s first points, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen. CBS’ coverage of the Bears’ 86-70 victory over previously undefeated Gonzaga April 5 averaged 16.922 million viewers, the most for a basketball game since the Toronto Raptors’ series-clinching 114-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors on June 13, 2019 averaged 18.763 million viewers on ABC. None of the six games of the 2020 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat, which was also carried by ABC, averaged more than 8.89 million viewers, facing unprecedented competition from NFL regular-season games and MLB postseason games from Sept. 30-Oct. 11. However, the audience was the lowest for an NCAA championship game televised by CBS. The previous low was 17.088 million for Connecticut’s 82-73 victory over Georgia Tech in 2004. Viewership was down 14.2% from the 19.723-million average for the last championship game, Virginia’s 85-77 overtime victory over Texas…