NCAA touts another record-setting day of viewership
Thursday setting March Madness viewership records made plenty of sense. The day was insane, with major upsets early on and a record-setting number of close games.
Friday was, well ... there was some quality basketball, but 15 favorites won and only seven games finished with a single-digit margin. That didn't stop viewers from tuning in throughout the day, as the NCAA is once again touting record-breaking viewership for Friday's slate.
— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 21, 2015
Friday's games delivered a 6.3 overnight rating, the highest rating ever for the first Friday of the tournament. That's down slightly from Thursday's 6.6, but still means that on average throughout the day, 6.3 percent of households sampled were tuned in.
The entire Round of 64 averaged a 6.4 rating, the highest ever for the first round of the tournament.
Perhaps more importantly for the future of the tournament's broadcasting, live video streams are up nine percent from 2014, with 39.7 million live streams being utilized through Friday's games.
The NCAA was also quick to point out its incredible social media engagement.
The NCAA Tournament has grossed a record 64million total social impressions via Facebook, Twitter & Instagram through Friday +25% over 2014
— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 21, 2015
Now, let's see if the Round of 32 can keep pace.