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Report: NCAA Says Kansas-UNC Was Most Watched National Title Game on Cable in History

The NCAA said that Monday’s match-up between Kansas and UNC is the most-watched NCAA Division I men’s basketball national championship game on cable television. 

The 2021 championship between Baylor and Gonzaga attracted an average of 16.9 million viewers on CBS, per CNBC. Per the NCAA, viewership this year was up 4% from the Bulldog and Bears matchup. 

Per Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp, it looks like the game attracted 18.1 million viewers, with streaming services factored in.

The instant thriller between the Jayhawks and Tar Heels ended in with a 72–69 Kansas win after a highly contested March Madness tournament for all teams involved.

The women’s national championship between South Carolina and UConn drew nearly 5 million viewers and peaked at 5.91 million. It represented an 18% increase from the previous year and the highest viewership for a women’s national title game since 2004.

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