The 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament set records across all platforms, with the final’s stats game fueled by a thrilling overtime.
Across broadcast partners TBS, CBS, TNT, and truTV, ratings increased 11 percent compared with 2018’s March Madness tournament, according to data released after Monday night’s final by CBS and Turner Sports. The national championship game between No. 1 Virginia and No. 3 Texas Tech was up 20 percent over last year’s final.
Critics were skeptical that the Virginia-Texas Tech game would have enough entertainment value to generate significant ratings boosts, pointing to each team’s strong defensive lines—both among the best in the country—that had some predicting a low-scoring game.