Thursday’s slate of first round men’s NCAA tournament games didn’t produce many massive upsets. But people still tuned in.
According to the NCAA, the 16 games played on Thursday were the most-watched games of any opening day in tournament history. The four game windows across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV averaged 9.1 million viewers.
CBS Sports and TNT Sports Deliver the Most-Watched NCAA Tournament First Round Opening Day Ever pic.twitter.com/RrwWYyqCPC
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) March 21, 2025
The most-watched game came Thursday evening as Arkansas took down Kansas in a matchup of national championship coaches in John Calipari and Bill Self.