48 Million Watch Duke’s NCAA Win

CBS’ coverage of the NCAA basketball championship game between Duke and Kansas won its time slot Monday, but CBS only managed to tie NBC as the night’s most-watched network, according to Nielsen ratings released Tuesday.

Duke’s 72-65 win was the sixth most-watched game ever, seen in about 18.1 million households, with CBS estimating 48 million people watched at least part of the game. By comparison, Nevada-Las Vegas’ 103-73 win over Duke in last year’s championship game was seen in about 18.4 million households, and the most-watched game, Villanova’s 1985 upset victory over Georgetown, was seen in about 19.8 million households.

“Changes,” the NBC movie that ran opposite the game in most of the nation, was seen in about 16.6 million households. For the evening, CBS and NBC each averaged a 16 rating, while ABC, which ran an all situation comedy schedule, was third at 14.