Overnights

Overnight Ratings: NBC's Final Round of Transitions Championship Sees 31% Jump

By Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor

Published March 19, 2012

Last night's NCAA men's basketball tournament third round game on CBS featuring North Carolina-Creighton topped all weekend sports telecasts with a 6.4 overnight Nielsen rating. That figure is flat compared to Ohio State-George Mason in the same late afternoon window last year, and down from the top Sunday game of the NCAA Tournament last year, which was a 6.9 overnight for Duke-Michigan in the mid-afternoon window. TNT's Kansas-Purdue matchup last night was cable TV's best overnight of the weekend with a 2.8 rating. Last year's top game on cable TV during the first weekend was a 2.9 overnight for Arizona-Texas. Meanwhile, Fox saw an uptick in the overnights for NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage. The Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway earned a 4.0 overnight yesterday afternoon, up slightly from a 3.9 rating last year. NBC also saw a big gain for PGA Tour coverage yesterday. The final round of the Transitions Championship earned a 2.1 overnight for Luke Donald's playoff victory over Jim Furyk, Sang-Moon Bae and Robert Garrigus. That figure is up 31% from a 1.6 overnight for the final round last year.

Listed below are overnight Nielsen ratings from weekend sports telecasts on broadcast TV.

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RAT.
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Second Round: Cincinnati-Texas	3/16	CBS	12:00-2:30pm	2.2
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Second Round: FSU-St. Bonaventure	3/16	CBS	2:45-5:15pm	2.4
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Second Round: Lehigh-Duke	3/16	CBS	7:00-9:45pm	4.1
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Second Round: Xavier-Notre Dame	3/16	CBS	10:15pm-12:30am	3.2
ATP Tour: BNP Paribas Open Semifinals	3/17	ABC	2:00-6:00pm	0.6
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Third Round: Syracuse-Kansas State	3/17	CBS	12:00-2:30pm	3.7
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Third Round: Ohio State-Gonzaga	3/17	CBS	3:00-5:15pm	5.7
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Third Round: Marquette-Murray State	3/17	CBS	5:15-7:30pm	5.2
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Third Round: Kentucky-Iowa State	3/17	CBS	7:45-10:15pm	4.3
Gymnastics: Pacific Rim Championships (taped)	3/17	NBC	1:00-3:00pm	1.1
PGA Tour: Transitions Championship: Third Round	3/17	NBC	3:00-6:00pm	1.3
American Le Mans Series: Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring	3/18	ABC	12:00-2:00pm	0.6
ATP Tour/WTA Tour: BNP Paribas Open finals	3/18	ABC	2:00-6:00pm	0.7
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Third Round: N.C. State-Georgetown	3/18	CBS	12:00-2:45pm	4.3
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Third Round: Michigan State-St. Louis	3/18	CBS	3:00-5:30pm	6.0
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Third Round: North Carolina-Creighton	3/18	CBS	5:30-7:45pm	6.4
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Food City 500	3/18	Fox	1:15-4:14pm	4.0
NHL: Penguins-Flyers	3/18	NBC	12:30-3:15pm	1.0
PGA Tour: Transitions Championship: Final Round	3/18	NBC	3:15-6:45pm	2.1