Men's NCAA Basketball & The Masters Golf Tourney Top TV Ratings
The Men's NCAA Basketball final game between Kansas and Memphis, where Memphis' inability to make free throws down the stretch lead to their demise, had an average viewership of 19.5 million to lead all other sports shows by a wide margin for the week of April 7-13, 2008.
When Tiger Woods wins the Masters, it boosts TV ratings significantly, but while he was second this year, he never really threatened on Sunday. Because of that the Sunday Master's telecast averaged 13.1 million viewers and the Saturday telecast averaged 8.3 million viewers, well down from the levels experienced when Tiger is in the lead.
Top Sports Shows for the Week of April 7-13, 2008:
|
RANK |
PROGRAMS |
Network |
Persons Live+SD (000) |
HH Rating Live+SD |
|
1 |
NCAA MEN'S B-BALL - KANSAS v. MEMPHIS |
CBS |
19,501 |
12.1 |
|
2 |
MASTERS GOLF TOURN.-SUN 4/13 |
CBS |
13,148 |
8.6 |
|
3 |
PRELUDE TO A CHAMPIONSHIP 4/07 |
CBS |
12,037 |
7.9 |
|
4 |
MASTERS GOLF TOURN. SAT 4/12 |
CBS |
8,268 |
5.6 |
|
5 |
NCAA MEN'S B_BALL CHAMP-POST 4/07 |
CBS |
8,052 |
5.3 |
|
6 |
NASCAR SUBWAY FRESH FIT 500 4/12 |
FOX |
7,226 |
4.4 |
|
7 |
NASCAR SPRINT CUP PRE 4/12 |
FOX |
5,514 |
3.4 |
|
8 |
Friday Night Smackdown |
CW |
4,304 |
2.5 |
|
9 |
SATURDAY BASEBALL NY YANKS AT BOST/COLO AT ARZ |
FOX |
4,027 |
2.7 |
|
10 |
MLB SUNDAY NIGHT - YANKEES/RED SOX |
ESPN |
3,895 |
2.6 |
|
11 |
NCAA WOMENS B-BALL - STANFORD/TENNESSEE |
ESPN |
3,858 |
2.5 |
|
12 |
MASTERS GOLF HILITES-THU 4/10 |
CBS |
3,842 |
2.9 |
|
13 |
MASTERS GOLF TOURNAMENT - SECOND ROUND |
ESPN |
3,549 |
2.7 |
|
14 |
NBA SAN ANTONIO AT LA LAKERS-SUN 2 |
ABC |
3,339 |
2.4 |
|
15 |
MASTERS GOLF HILITES-FRI(S)-04/11/2008 |
CBS |
3,175 |
2.3 |
|
16 |
FUTBOL LIGA MEXICANA SUN GUADALAJARA VS AMERICA |
TF |
3,018 |
1.3 |
|
17 |
SATURDAY BASEBALL-COLORADO AT ARIZONA |
FOX |
2,972 |
2.0 |
|
18 |
FOX SAT BBALL-RAIN DELAY(S)-04/12/2008 |
FOX |
2,332 |
1.6 |
|
19 |
NBA TORONTO AT DETROIT-SUN 1 |
ABC |
2,128 |
1.6 |
|
20 |
J NANTZ REMEMBERS: '78 MASTERS 4/13 |
CBS |
1,904 |
1.4 |
A standard weekly NASCAR Sprint Cup race (Fresh Fit 500) crossed the finish line with 7.2 million viewers and was third among sporting events for the week.
As usual the "sport" of faux wrestling on Friday Night Smackdown did well, outdrawing two Yankees/Red Sox games, the Women's NCAA Basketball championship and several national NBA games with 4.3 million viewers.
The Futbol Liga Mexicana game between Guadalajara and America is a surprise on the list with an average of 3.0 million viewers. I don't feel ashamed to admit I had to Google to learn that "TF" stands for the network TeleFutura.
This is the second week in a row we've received weekly sports ratings data from Nielsen. They're raising my hopes a bit that it could become a regular trend again. Fingers crossed!
Our Sports Ratings combine both Broadcast and Cable sports.
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
