2025 NCAA Tournament: First two rounds average 9.4 million viewers, best TV ratings since 1993

Following a strong first day of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the TV ratings success continued across the opening rounds. CBS and TNT Sports announced the best viewership for the first two rounds since 1993.

The Round of 64 and Round of 32 averaged a combined 9.3 million viewers, the networks announced – a 3% increase from last year. Sunday’s second-round games helped lead the charge as teams punched their tickets to the March Madness Sweet Sixteen.

An average of 10.1 million people tuned in for Sunday’s games, led by Kentucky vs. Illinois. Specific figures for that game were not available at the time of publication.

Duke vs. Baylor also helped lead that charge, averaging 9.6 million viewers on CBS. Florida’s thrilling victory over UConn in the final seconds also brought in 7.8 million viewers. Both games saw increases from the same windows last year, according to Sports Media Watch.

Chalk prevailed, for the most part, through the early part of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Only one double-digit seed – Arkansas – is playing in the Sweet Sixteen this weekend, and all No. 1 seeds are still in the field. St. John’s is the only No. 2 seed to fall so far, dropping its Round of 32 matchup to Arkansas.

First Four, Day 1 of March Madness set the table for TV ratings surge

Despite the lack of upsets, March Madness got off to an impressive TV ratings start. Thursday’s schedule of opening round games averaged 9.1 million viewers across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, TNT Sports announced. That’s a 6% increase from a year ago, and the primetime window averaged 12.2 million viewers – the most-watched first-round window in tournament history.

The most-watched game of Thursday’s slate was Arkansas vs. Kansas in a battle of Hall of Fame coaches. An average of 6.36 million people tuned in to CBS as John Calipari’s Razorbacks took down Bill Self’s Jayhawks, making it the top first-round game under the traditional format, which began in 2011.

St. John’s vs. Nebraska Omaha came in a distant second with an average of 3.77 million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch.

First Four viewership was also up 20% from a year ago. Wednesday’s game between Xavier and Texas led the way. An average of 2.4 million people tuned in for the matchup, which saw the Musketeers come back to defeat the Longhorns and advance to the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

North Carolina and San Diego State also drew a big audience with an average of 2.2 million viewers tuning in. The Tar Heels cruised past the Aztecs in the second game of the day after coming in as the last team in the NCAA Tournament field.

Tuesday and Wednesday became the two most-watched days of the First Four ever with 3.6 million and 3.9 million viewers, respectively.