Some of college basketball's most storied shows were in action Friday night, and their appeal lit up the ratings, easily outpacing the rest of the programming.
The CBS television broadcast of the regional action achieved 2.1 in demos and 9.14 million total viewers among an 18–49 crowd. The excitement was certainly driven by a season of upset, as top-ranked teams like Gonzaga and Arizona have both already fallen by the wayside.
Overall, NCAA men's ratings are up 12% for the first two rounds in 2022 versus 2021, according to CBS and Turner, who are handling the action. The game averages over 9 million viewers per timeslot. This makes the average viewership through two rounds the highest in five years.
The most-watched game of the tournament to date is Duke's second-round victory over Michigan State. It attracted over 11 million viewers. This weekend, the field narrows, and the nation's eyes will be on St. Peters, the Cinderella team from New Jersey that has stunned the world with its ups and downs. The No. 15 seed takes it to court again on Sunday against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Elsewhere, ABC had a new Shark Tank out with 0.4, as Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner, Barbera Corcoran, and guest judge Emma Grede spun and cut the entrepreneurs they brought before them. Newsmag provided a strong lead-in to 20/20, which investigated the murder at an Air Force base.
WWE Friday Night SmackDown, the perennial ratings leader on Fox, brought in 0.4 and maintained its viewership level. The biggest match of the night was the Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns dressing room.
NBC had a new blacklist after a brief hiatus, with a 0.2, which was scored by newsmag Dateline as a 0.3 for another look at a mysterious murder.
All of that left little for The CW, as both Charmed and Dynasty had 0.1s a night.