Even though one of two games Saturday was a 20-point blowout, a thrilling end to Kentucky's perfect season at the hands of Wisconsin was enough set a cable TV record. According to Turner Sports, the matchup netted the highest overnight rating in cable history for a college basketball game as well as the highest rating in 22 years for a Final Four game in the NCAA Tournament.
NCAA Basketball Tournament 2015: Final Four overnight ratings highest since 1993
The NCAA also set live streaming and social media records with Saturday’s games.
Coverage across TBS, TNT and truTV averaged a 13.3 overnight rating, the best since the Final Four recorded a 13.8 overnight rating in 1993. Those numbers peaked from 11 to 11:15 p.m. ET, with the game telecast up 48 percent from 2014.
The NCAA’s live streaming app, March Madness Live, has also recorded 77 million streams that equaled 16.8 million hours of video consumption for the entirety of the tournament through Saturday, up 15 percent from last season. On the Final Four doubleheader alone, which also included Duke topping Michigan State, the number of live streams were up 59 percent.
In addition, the tournament has set a record with 306 million total social impressions on Facebook and Twitter, a 36 percent increase from last year.
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