CBS Sports and TNT Sports team up to create the highly anticipated First Four of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Tuesday and Wednesday’s games drew truTV’s highest-ever ratings.
An average of 7.5 million viewers tuned in to Dayton’s four March Madness games. Wednesday’s game Miami (Ohio) and singapore management university It topped the list with an average of 2.8 million viewers, a 17% increase over the previous top game.
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This week’s game is the first in the NCAA tournament since Nielsen debuted the Big Data+ panel metric in September 2025. Complete ratings figures for the other three Top Four games were not available at press time.
TV ratings for the top four are soaring after men’s college basketball’s strong regular season performance. Household ratings were up 10%, and ratings for the three major networks also surged. FOX is having its best men’s college basketball season to date with a 38% increase, while CBS is up 10% from last season. ESPN also said its ratings were up 25% year over year, driven by its best Big Monday season ever.
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That success continued into division championship week. between big ten championship games Purdue University and michigan CBS averaged 4.72 million viewers, making it the most-watched championship game in league history. It takes the title among the ACC champions virginia and Dukewith 4.09 million viewers, the second-highest television rating in the game’s history.
This story will be updated.
