The news: March Madness TV viewership was the tournament’s strongest in 33 years, up 9% YoY and averaging 10.3 million viewers across TBS, CBS, TNT, and TruTV, per Nielsen.
- Viewership peaked during Sunday’s Duke-UConn match, which drew in nearly 19 million viewers with an average of 13.4 million, up 15% YoY.
- The Friday window featuring St. John’s-Duke and Michigan-Alabama drew 14.2 million viewers, up 38% YoY and the most-watched in that slot since 1992.
- Audiences for the first two rounds broke records, averaging 10.1 million viewers.
- All weekend games drew more viewership than in 2025.
Zooming out: The viewership spike comes as agencies and marketers push deeper into sports to reach vast, attentive audiences.
- Holding company Publicis acquired sports agency 160over90 on Thursday, citing sports as a “key growth area” for its clients. 160over90 will be part of Publicis’ Sports division.
- Publicis made similar moves in 2025 through acquisitions including sports-focused agencies Adopt and Bespoke Sports & Entertainment.
- UK-based agency M&C Saatchi expanded its sports footprint last year through an acquisition of UAE-based Dune 23, aimed at expanding the agency’s regional footprint.
Behind the trend: Sustained growth across audiences, digital viewership, and media rights value is motivating agencies to get involved.
- Live sports routinely draw in massive audiences. Nearly 50% of the US population are live sports viewers, per our forecast.