CBS' Tournament Ratings Up Across The Board From '08

I was waiting until we got all the way through the Elite Eight before putting a ratings post up, and now that we're into the Final Four, here it is. Despite a lack of upsets, and even close games, CBS' ratings are almost entirely up across the board from 2008. Here are the regional semifinals and finals numbers via Sports Business Daily....

Thursday (Regional Semifinals)

Game 1: 2009- 6.2, 2008- 6.0, 2007- 6.4, 2006- 7.7, 2005- 6.9, 2004- 6.2
Game 2: 2009- 7.4, 2008- 5.9, 2007- 7.6, 2006- 7.3, 2005- 7.4, 2004- 7.2

Friday (Regional Semifinals)

Game 1: 2009- 5.7, 2008- 5.6, 2007- 6.2, 2006- 6.5, 2005- 7.7, 2004- 6.2
Game 2: 2009- 7.4, 2008- 5.2, 2007- 7.0, 2006- 6.9, 2005- 7.9, 2004- 7.0

Saturday (Regional Finals)

Game 1: 2009- 6.2, 2008- 5.4, 2007- 6.4, 2006- 6.0, 2005- 7.2, 2004- 5.3
Game 2: 2009- 7.5, 2008- 7.1, 2007- 7.3, 2006- 7.0, 2005- 9.1, 2004- 7.2

Sunday (Regional Finals)

Game 1: 2009- 5.9, 2008- 5.7, 2007- 6.3, 2006- 6.5, 2005- 7.2, 2004- 5.7
Game 2: 2009- 7.7, 2008- 9.3, 2007- 8.4, 2006- 8.5, 2005- 10.8, 2004- 9.1

8-DAY OVERNIGHT AVG. RATING

2009- 5.9, 2008- 5.5, 2007- 6.2, 2006- 6.1, 2005- 6.7, 2004- 5.9

Well, that's certainly good news, however the Final Four will probably not be seeing such an increase with some of the lesser seeded teams making it through. Although, that may not actually be true because the lower seeded teams do come from larger markets. We shall see.

CBS Averaging 5.9 Overnight Through Second Weekend Of Tourney (Sports Business Daily - $)