Preliminary Analysis: CBS scored a rare Friday night win with their broadcast of the 'Wisconsin v. North Carolina' NCAA game (0.8) and the 'Syracuse v. San Diego' game (0.8). Since March Madness was canceled in 2020, the closest comparison that can made is to the first broadcast from 2019 (
1.7/1.0). Although the tournament ratings are noticeably weaker this time around, the games still outperformed anything on the other networks. Fox's 'WWE Smackdown' (0.5) was the only program to come near CBS, with 'Smackdown' losing a tenth on a week-to-week basis. On ABC, 'Shark Tank' (0.4) went into repeat-mode while an edition of '20/20' (0.4) focusing on the murder in Atlanta held steady. NBC's 'Dateline' (0.3) shed a tenth behind a 'Blacklist' encore (0.2). The CW was even across the board with 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' (0.1/0.1) and 'Penn & Teller' (0.1).
Finals Update: NCAA Tournament: WI v. NC (+0.2), NCAA Tournament: Syracuse v. San Diego St. (+0.2), WWE SmackDown (+0.1), and the repeat of Shark Tank (+0.1) adjusted up.
Time | Show | 18-49 Rating/Share | Viewers (mil) | Network |
| 8 PM | NCAA Tournament: WI v. NC | 0.99/6 | 4.44 | CBS |
| WWE SmackDown | 0.57/4 | 2.09 | Fox |
| Shark Tank (R) | 0.45/3 | 3.12 | ABC |
| The Blacklist (R) | 0.24/2 | 2.09 | NBC |
| Whose Line Is It Anyway? | 0.10/1 | 0.75 | The CW |
| 8:30 PM | Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) | 0.10/1 | 0.64 | The CW |
| 9 PM | 20/20 | 0.36/3 | 2.36 | ABC |
| Dateline NBC | 0.37/3 | 2.75 | NBC |
| Penn & Teller: Fool Us | 0.10/1 | 0.80 | The CW |
| 9:30 PM | NCAA Tournament: Syracuse v. San Diego St. | 0.98/5 | 3.45 | CBS |
Key:(R) = repeat
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