Primetime Ratings: CBS Wins With College Hoops

CBS was the big winner in Thursday ratings, as the NCAA basketball tournament paced the network to a 2.4 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 10 share. CBS had March Madness action across prime.

Last Thursday’s NCAA tournament on CBS did a 1.7.

Runner-up was ABC at 1.4/6. Grey’s Anatomy went up 6% to 1.9 and Station 19 premiered to a 1.2 from 9 to 11 p.m.

NBC was at 1.1/5, with Superstore up 10% to 1.1 and A.P. Bio down 13% to 0.7. A pair of Chicago Fire episodes was down 8% for a 1.2.

Fox rated a 0.6/3, with Gotham up 17% to 0.7 and Showtime at the Apollo at a flat 0.6.

Univision rated a 0.5/2 and Telemundo a 0.4/2, both the same as last week.

The CW did a 0.2/1 with repeats of Supernatural and Arrow.

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.