Leading up to Saturday’s Final Four games – Auburn vs. Virginia and Texas Tech vs. Michigan State – much attention was brought to the lack of blue blood programs heading to Minneapolis. Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky were all knocked out thanks to Auburn. Michigan State, a basketball power in its own right, defeated Duke in the Elite Eight.

As far as watching the game, basketball fans were drawn to the two matchups. The official March Madness Twitter account shared the news that Saturday’s games on CBS averaged an 8.8/18 MM rating/share, which is up 13% from last year. In addition, the March Madness Live streaming platform generated in 14% increase in live streams for Saturday’s games compared to the 2018 Final Four.

It’s great for college basketball that the Final Four can bring in strong ratings even when teams like Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina get bounced early. It will be interesting to see if Texas Tech vs. Virginia brings in better championship game ratings than last year (Michigan vs. Villanova).