The second ever all-top seed men’s Final Four delivered two tight games — and two big TV audiences — on Saturday.
Fast national ratings from Nielsen have the two games averaging about 15.3 million viewers, the best mark for the men’s Final Four since 2017 (with the caveat that Nielsen didn’t include out of home viewing in its measurement until three years after that). That’s up 19 percent from a year ago (about 12.8 million viewers) on TBS, TNT and TruTV, and 24 percent above CBS’ last time showing the Final Four in 2023.
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The early game, a 79-73 win for Florida over Auburn, drew 14.6 million viewers, up from 11.4 million for the same window a year ago. Houston’s 70-67 comeback victory over Duke in the late game averaged 16 million viewers, a 13 percent gain on the late window in 2024. CBS’ coverage peaked at 20.4 million viewers.
The Houston-Duke game was the most watched of the 2025 tournament so far and also surpassed every game in the 2024 bracket. Final numbers for Saturday’s games will be available Tuesday, and it’s likely that they’ll adjust up a little from the fast national numbers.
The women’s Final Four on Friday fell by a substantial amount, as expected after last year’s record-setting viewership. The two games — both fairly lopsided wins by defending champ South Carolina (over Texas) and Connecticut (over UCLA) — averaged 3.9 million viewers on ESPN in the fast nationals, down 65 percent from 11 million last year. Still, it was the third highest average audience for the women’s Final Four since ESPN gained exclusive rights to the women’s version of March Madness in 1995, behind only last year and 2023 (4.5 million viewers).