Slight Ratings Rise Rare for Tournament

Ratings for Saturday's national semifinals doubleheader on CBS Sports were their highest in several years, and ratings for the entire NCAA Tournament are up slightly, according for information from the network.

The combined numbers for both games Saturday drew a 9.7 rating and a 19 share, up 8 percent from last year and the highest for those games since 2005. Both games were up 8 percent from last year.

Coverage of the tournament overall is up 2 percent for CBS Sports, drawing an average rating of 6.2 and a viewing share of 13 percent.

If the overall numbers hold up -- and they certainly should with initial interest in tonight's matchup between underdog Butler and TV favorite Duke, unless the Blue Devils somehow take control of the game and viewers become less interested late in the game -- the tournament would finish as the highest-rated for CBS Sports since 2005.

Still, ratings for the event have generally been on a slide the past half decade. In the decade after CBS Sports started televising the tournament in 1982, ratings were usually in the 9s with shares in the low 20s.

Since 1994, final average ratings have never been higher than 8.3 (and that happened only in 1994) with shares of 19 (again, that high-water mark was in 1994). The tournament has instead trended down, thanks to changing viewing habits and the proliferation and splintering of U.S. television viewing options.

Ratings have slippped from 7s and 6s to 5.7 last year while shares have slid from 17s to 15s and a 12 last year.

This season's numbers would represent an important, albeit rare, uptick -- coming at an interesting time, because this could be the final championship game on CBS Sports if a much-rumored change in the tournament format happens. According to indications, the NCAA might opt out of its contract with CBS Sports and rebid the event, with ESPN has the generally accepted primary suitor.

The numbers beg all kinds of questions -- not the least of which is why ESPN would want to pay more for something that's drawing less TV attention and viewers. On top of that, any revamped tournament (96 teams) would seemingly water down ratings and shares even more by adding more content to a seemingly oversaturated market.

Because of its ability to charge cable customers directly, though, ESPN has a better model to produce the revenue the money-hungry NCAA wants for its men's basketball tournament. It has to be concerning so someone, though, that the since 2005 the tournament lost nearly 13 million viewers, according to total audience estimates by CBS Sports.

In 2005, the latest high-water mark was 141.7 million viewers for the tournament. In 2009, those same estimates were at 128.9 million viewers. That's a 9 percent drop in viewers in just five years.