NCAA Playoffs

[UMGriz75]

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2016/04/05/record-low-ncaa-championship-tv-ratings/

Record Low NCAA Championship TV Ratings

WASHINGTON — For the second year in a row, the NCAA Championship television ratings broke records–just not in a good way. Unfortunately for all parties, 2016 was the least-watched men’s basketball title game in at least 18 years.

This comes as a bit of a surprise, considering that the finish has been widely lauded as the most exciting finish in tournament history, and belongs in the discussion of best sports finish of all time.

 

[sacstateman]

This year was the first year the championship game was on cable only....no CBS, ABC or NBC...

 

[Griz1]

This year was the first year the championship game was on cable only....no CBS, ABC or NBC...

Sacstateman is right. That fact that it was only available on cable combined with common sense should have told someone in the NCAA that the viewing population would be less than the past. Its pretty tough to figure that out. I hope they made enough money by having it on cable to justify taking the game away from a large percentage of the public. Maybe someday the NCAA will learn it is not all about money but I sincerely doubt it.

 

[UMGriz75]

This year was the first year the championship game was on cable only....no CBS, ABC or NBC...

Sacstateman is right. That fact that it was only available on cable combined with common sense should have told someone in the NCAA that the viewing population would be less than the past. Its pretty tough to figure that out. I hope they made enough money by having it on cable to justify taking the game away from a large percentage of the public. Maybe someday the NCAA will learn it is not all about money but I sincerely doubt it.

Like the BSC Reno thing, it would be "interesting" to see the planning process for these kinds of changes, the "Business Plan" that reviews the impact of prospective changes, does polling and market research, econometric analysis, and is able to show the public how these decisions are made in the first place. Of course that would subject these guys to scrutiny after the fact and the quality and capability of the people making these assessments.

Or "if" they even bother to do these kinds of things.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Don't know how this is monitored/counted... I've never had cable or satellite tv, and gave up on local reception (lousy in Missoula) 10-12 years ago BUT enjoyed following streamed broadcasts of games -- especially last year and this year -- and watched good games from start to finish. I'm certain the NCAA has a means of counting my viewing by means of a cookie. Was this counted in the total?

 

[violin]

I would be curious to compare CBS/TBS/TNT/TRU year over year. Was the loss of viewers on CBS made up for on the gain of viewers on Tru? CBS may have drawn a much bigger audience this year for whatever they had than Tru had last year for that timeslot. More and more people are cutting cable and streaming so do these numbers include streaming viewers?

 

[citygriz]

I have to laugh every time somebody says, "In all due respect," because there's usually NO respect in "all due respect." Similarly, I have to laugh every time there's a post-game interview with coach and the "STUDENT athletes." "Student" sounds just a little too strident to me, and way too over-used, when there are billion-dollar contracts at stake, and so many of the star players are one-and-done. I'd like to know the last time the Kentucky Wildcats had a STUDENT-athlete on their basketball team, and what the NCAA is going to do about all those Tar Heel kids who went to fake classes.

 

[IdaGriz01]

This year was the first year the championship game was on cable only....no CBS, ABC or NBC...

Sacstateman is right. That fact that it was only available on cable combined with common sense should have told someone in the NCAA that the viewing population would be less than the past. Its pretty tough to figure that out. I hope they made enough money by having it on cable to justify taking the game away from a large percentage of the public. Maybe someday the NCAA will learn it is not all about money but I sincerely doubt it.

Forgive my confusion, but we do not have cable (haven't had for years) ... and we did not miss a game. But we do have DirecTV, so I'm being picky, of course. The point is, the old-fashioned antenna-broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) have been losing viewers for years. But I doubt very much that fewer people are watching TV programs, sporting events and otherwise. So if the "official" numbers are down, then my guess is that's more a matter of the nose-counters not keeping up with where the noses are. And yes, that should include people who watch the streamed broadcast ... but probably doesn't.

And it's going to get worse for the old-style approach -- streaming is coming on strong: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/19/b...cable-a-rivalry-beyond-tv.html?pagewanted=all
Here's some of the article:

For a number of years, the cable and satellite industries have battled for the hearts and wallets of United States consumers with ever-escalating offers of more and more television. ...
Of course, it is consumers who will determine how the competitive battle plays out. And it is difficult to say whether consumers will prefer to buy their cable and Internet access service from a single provider or to shop for each service independently. ...

FYI: If you read the whole article, you'll see that they do not even mention old-style broadcast TV.

 

[fanofzoo]

This year was the first year the championship game was on cable only....no CBS, ABC or NBC...

Sacstateman is right. That fact that it was only available on cable combined with common sense should have told someone in the NCAA that the viewing population would be less than the past. Its pretty tough to figure that out. I hope they made enough money by having it on cable to justify taking the game away from a large percentage of the public. Maybe someday the NCAA will learn it is not all about money but I sincerely doubt it.

:lol: