March Madness 2024 Averaging 9M Viewers in 3 Days; Most Watched NCAA Tournament Ever

The men's NCAA basketball tournament has been a fun one so far, and it's led to record viewership through the first two rounds.

The Round of 32 games on Saturday averaged 10.8 million viewers across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, marking the most watched first day of the second round ever, per March Madness Men's Basketball TV.

On top of the record viewership Saturday, this year's NCAA men's tournament has been the most watched tournament of all time through day one of the second round, averaging 9 million viewers in three days.

The historic viewing numbers aren't much of a surprise given the excitement through the first two rounds. Round 1 gave fans exciting upsets like No. 14 seed Oakland's win over No. 3 Kentucky and No. 13 Yale's win over No. 4 Auburn. The first round also saw several No. 5 and No. 6 seeds fall to No. 12 and No. 11 seeds, respectively.

Saturday's Round of 32 slate included some down-to-the-wire and overtime games. No. 11 NC State hung on against Oakland in overtime just a few hours before No. 3 Creighton defeated No. 11 Oregon in double overtime. No. 2 Tennessee won a slugfest against No. 7 Texas after a few clutch free throws.

After what has already been a thrilling tournament, viewership numbers could continue to see historic figures as the Round of 32 continues Sunday and the Sweet 16 starts next week.