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NCAA Tournament Television Ratings Up Dramatically

by Mike Rutherford

According to a press release from CBS/Turner Sports, Thursday’s second-round coverage of the NCAA Tournament was the most-watched first Thursday since 1991.

↵The release states that the coverage on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV combined to deliver a 5.3 U.S. Household rating (up 6.0 percent from 2011) and 7.7 million total viewers (up 4.0 percent from 2011), according to Nielsen Fast Nationals. It was the highest-rated and most-viewed Thursday of the Division-I Championship since 1991, when the tournament expanded to four telecast windows.

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