Florida’s victory over Houston was the third most watched basketball game in the last five years.
The championship game of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s March Madness basketball tournament was watched by an average of 18.1 million viewers for US network CBS.
Confirmed:
- Florida’s victory over Houston peaked at 21.1 million viewers
- Viewership up 22 per cent on 2024 final
- Final Four weekend averaged 16.4 million viewers for the three games, up 21 per cent year-over-year (YoY)
- Average tournament viewership across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV at 10.2 million viewers, up three per cent YoY
Context:
This was the most watched men’s national college basketball championship game since 2019, and was the third most watched basketball game in the last five years, trailing only the Paris 2024 Olympics men’s basketball gold medal game and last year’s Women’s March Madness national tournament decider.
The NCAA’s media partners CBS and TNT rotate coverage of the Final Four, with the former usually attracting better viewership given TNT is exclusive to pay-TV or Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) Max direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service. This year’s Final Four also tipped off at a slightly earlier timeslot, which would have helped maintain interest across all US time zones, while Florida and Houston both entered the tournament as number one seeds, providing an even matchup involving the two best teams in the competition.
This year’s tournament began strongly, with the opening day netting the highest viewership on record. While both the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds were down on last year’s equivalent rounds, the Final Four drew the highest average viewership for the tournament since 2017 – thanks in part to having four top-seeded teams face off in two close games.
Credit: https://www.sportspro.com/news/ncaa-march-madness-final-florida-houston-cbs-tv-viewership-april-2025/