Through its opening week, the NCAA Tournament is averaging 9.2 million viewers, a +4% increase through the same period last year (8.9 million viewers). Through its first six days, the tournament is averaging a 5.9 U.S. household rating (+2% vs. a 5.8 U.S. HH rating to date in 2013). The 5.9 U.S. HH rating is tied with 1998 as the highest rating for the opening week of the tournament in 17 years.
This year's NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship has netted audience growth through each stage including a record-setting NCAA First Four on
truTV and year-to-date viewership increases during the second and third rounds.
Driven in part by the success of the NCAA,
TBS ranked as basic cable's #1 network on in
Primetime among total viewers, adults 18-34, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54, with
TNT ranking second with viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 and
truTV ranking among the Top 10 with adult demos. In addition,
TNT scored basic cable's top spot for the week in total day delivery of adults 25-54.
NCAA March Madness Live
NCAA March Madness Live, managed by Turner Sports, has delivered record-setting video consumption for the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, with more than 51 million video streams over the first week of the tournament already surpassing the total of 49 million video streams for the entire event last year. The 51 million live video streams - across online and mobile platforms (tablets and smart phones) - have grown +40% when compared tournament to date with 2013. Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live has netted more than 10.5 million hours of live video consumed, an increase of +6% over last year and on pace to rank as an all-time record.
TNT
TNT's hit drama Rizzoli & Isles, one of basic cable's Top 10 original series this quarter, garnered more than 5.3 million viewers in Live + 3 delivery for last Tuesday's episode. Among key demos, the show averaged more than 1.7 million adults 25-54 and 1.5 million adults 18-49.
Last Tuesday's episode of
Perception grabbed more than 2.9 million viewers in Live + 3 delivery, with 1.0 million adults 25-54 and 864,000 adults 18-49.
TNT's Dallas wrangled 2.6 million viewers in Live + 3 delivery for last Monday's episode. The drama scored slight increases over the prior week among both adults 25-54 (1.1 million) and adults 18-49 (911,000).
TBS
TBS's original sitcom
Cougar Town garnered 1.6 million viewers in Live + 3 viewing for last Tuesday's episode. Among key demos, the show averaged 1.0 million adults 18-49 and 451,000 adults 18-34.
TBS's run of
The Big Bang Theory continues to conquer the competition. Last week, the hit show accounted for 14 of basic cable's Top 15 off-net sitcom telecasts among total viewers and 13 of the Top 15 among adults 18-49.
Adult Swim
For the third week in a row this month, Adult Swim's average Total Day Delivery ranked #1 on basic cable among adults 18-24, 18-34 & 18-49 and men 18-24, 18-34 & 18-49.
The new episode premiere of Adult Swim's original series Check It Out (Thursday, 12:30 a.m.) earned delivery gains among all targeted young adults and men 18-24 & 18-49 vs. the same time period last year - adults 18-34 grew by 10%, adults 18-49 by 5%, adults 18-24 by 9%, men 18-24 by 9% and men 18-49 by 2%.
Monday night's telecast of
The Cleveland Show (9:30 p.m.) earned delivery gains vs. last year among adults 18-34 and men 18-34 & 18-49, ranging between 4% and 33%.
Family Guy (10 p.m.) scored double and triple-digit delivery increases among all targeted young adults and men, ranging between 24% and 123%. Additionally, original animated series Rick & Morty (10:30 p.m.) earned delivery gains among adults 18-34 and all targeted men-adults 18-34 increased by 1%, men 18-34 by 35%, men 18-49 by 30% and men 18-24 by 32%.
Among Saturday night's TOONAMI block anime programming line-up,
Space Dandy (Saturday, 11:30 p.m.) grew delivery vs. last year among adults 18-34 & 18-49 and all men, ranging between 13% and 36%.
Blue Exorcist (1:30 a.m.) and the series premiere of Black Lagoon (2 a.m.) scored mostly double-digit delivery gains among all targeted adults and men vs. last year, ranging between 9% and 85%.
Adult Swim original and acquired programming - including Family Guy, American Dad, Robot Chicken,
The Boondocks and
Rick and Morty - accounted for 22 of the top 50 telecasts of the week on basic cable among adults 18-34, and 22 of the top 50 programs among men 18-34, both more than any other network.
Cartoon Network
Across the fourth week of March 2014,
Cartoon Network ranked as television's #1 network for Early Prime (7-9 p.m.) delivery of boys 6-11 & 9-14.
On Monday night (7-9 p.m.),
Cartoon Network claimed the #1 TV destination among boys 2-11, 6-11 & 9-14, earning delivery growth across kids 9-14 and all boy demos vs. last year, ranging between 3% and 9%.
Monday's season finale of the original animated comedy
Adventure Time (7 p.m.) scored as the #1 telecast of the week among boys 6-11, #1 for the day among kids 9-14 and boys 6-11 & 9-14, #1 in its timeslot among kids 9-14 and all key boys - also increasing delivery across the board between 8% and 26%. The premieres of
Regular Show (7:30p) and
Steven Universe (8p) ranked #1 in their respective timeslots with all key boys, while Annoying Orange (8:30p) was #1 in its time period with boys 2-11 & 6-11.
Cartoon Network also earned the #1 TV destination among all boys 2-11, 6-11 & 9-14 on Tuesday Night (7-9p), increasing average delivery of kids 2-11 & 6-11 and boys 2-11 & 6-11 between 10% and 25%.
On Wednesday night (7-9 p.m.),
Cartoon Network again ranked as the #1 network among all targeted boy demos, increasing average delivery among kids 2-11 & 6-11 and all boys between 3% and 18%. The new episode premiere of
Teen Titans Go! (7:30 p.m.) ranked at the #1 telecast of the day among boys 9-14, #1 in its timeslot among kids 2-11 & 6-11 and all boys, and earned double-digit delivery gains among all targeted kids and boys vs. last year, between 33% and 69%.
Saturday morning programming (7-11 a.m.) increased delivery of kids 2-11 & 6-11 and boys 2-11 & 6-11 between 10% and 18%, with the new episode premiere of Pokémon The Series XY (8:30 a.m.) ranking #1 in its time period among boys 9-14.
