• by Wayne Friedman , March 26, 2025

Through two first rounds of the NCAA College Men’s Basketball Tournament, ratings are up 4% to an Nielsen-measured average 9.4 million viewers across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV -- the highest two-round average since 1993.

The bigger of the two days was Sunday, up 13% to 10.1 million. The early-evening window averaged a combined 15.3 million -- up 2.6% from a year ago. Later evening games grew 19% to 8.0 million.

It should be noted that Nielsen fully added out-of-home viewing in 100% of its covered markets earlier this year.

The biggest game of the tournament so far: Sunday’s Kentucky’s 84–75 victory over Illinois -- 15.3 million viewers.

Major advertising brands this year so far include AT&T Wireless, Geico, Capital One, The Home Depot, State Farm, Progressive Insurance, Samsung Galaxy, Nissan, and Invesco Funds Group.

The first two early rounds of the NCAA College Women’s Basketball Tournament were down 26% versus a year ago to 602,000 viewers on ABC and ESPN.

Last year followed the record setting on-court performances from Caitlin Clark and her University of Iowa team.

The highest-spending national advertisers were Kesimpta, Gatorade, Nike, Home Depot, AT&T Wireless, Geico, Capital One, Nissan and Allstate.