• by Wayne Friedman , March 19, 2010

The first night of CBS' March Madness slightly improved from a year ago. But better news came from its Internet platform: Online viewers of the big college basketball tournament grew 20% from 2009.

CBS grew to some 3 million online viewers for its now annually digital package of games. CBS also had 3.4 million total hours of streaming video.

The most-watched game online was Florida-BYU, which tallied 521,000 total streaming hours. This was a 50% gain over last year's top game online, which pulled in 348,000 hours of streaming for a first-round game between Washington-Mississippi State.

For CBS' traditional TV area, the "NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament" posted a Nielsen preliminary 3% rise to a 3.7 adults 18-49 rating and 10.3 million viewers.

All this threw Thursday night into a mess. In particular, it did some damage to ABC and its return of limited series drama "Flash Forward" at 9 p.m. "Flash" was down two-tenths of a rating point -- or 10% -- from its last original episode in the fall, to a 1.9/5 among 18-49 viewers.

It was during the 9 p.m. hour that CBS' March Madness event peaked with a 4.1/12. NBC's "The Office" took a hit as well, as young male viewers appear to be headed to the basketball programming. NBC's big Thursday night comedy came in at second place with a 3.6/10, a season low.

CBS not only won the night among 18-49 viewers with a 3.7/11, it also took the crown among 18-34 viewers with a 3.3/11.

One rather unusual bright spot: NBC's "The Marriage Ref," which appeared to be sinking in previous outings, gained 8% to a 2.8/9 among 18-49 viewers.

The show might have picked up some women viewers from ABC, which put "Private Practice" in repeats, only reaching a thin 1.1/4. CBS' NCAA basketball at 10 p.m. earned a 3.6/10.

Fox and CW ran for cover on the night, putting their entire Thursday night lineup in repeats.

After CBS, NBC came in at second place on the night among 18-49 viewers, with a 2.7/8; ABC was well behind at 1.6/5; Univision and Fox tied with a 1.4/4. The CW earned a 0.6/2, and a 0.5/2 among its more key adult 18-34 viewers.