Primetime Ratings: CBS Rolls With March Madness Final

CBS won the Monday ratings race, the NCAA basketball final leading the network to a 3.6 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 15 share. In a distant second was NBC at 1.0/5.

On CBS, a Big Bang Theory repeat started off prime and the March Madness pre-game show followed at 2.0. The final featured Texas Tech and Virginia in an overtime thriller. Starting at 9, the game did a 4.4.

Last year’s final was on cable. The 2017 final, North Carolina versus Gonzaga, did a 5.6.

On NBC, The Voice fell 20% to 1.2 from 8 to 10 and The Enemy Within dropped 13% to 0.7.

ABC did a 0.9/4. American Idol did a 1.1 from 8 to 10 and The Fix got a 0.5, both shows flat.

Fox got a 0.5/2 with repeats of The Resident and 9-1-1.

Telemundo and Univision both got a 0.4/2.

The CW did a 0.2/1. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow got a level 0.3 and an Arrow rerun closed out CW prime. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.