As is typical for this event, many interested parties tuned in to Sunday’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament Selection Show, which drew 5.7 million viewers according to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. While this figure represents a slight decline from last year’s 5.9 million viewers on CBS, it still surpasses every year since 2019, marking the second-best NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Show for CBS since 2019.
CBS drew its second-best NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Show since 2019 on Sunday.
5.7 million viewers.
-3% from 2024
+12% from 2023
+15% from 2022 pic.twitter.com/BIQTlhtcLT— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) March 18, 2025
This year’s Selection Show had a different tone following the passing of legendary CBS Sports host Greg Gumbel, who had been a staple of the network’s March Madness coverage and also missed last year’s tournament for personal reasons. CBS paid tribute to Gumbel at the beginning of the telecast, with Adam Lefkoe stepping in as host for the second consecutive year.
Continuing a trend from recent years, CBS efficiently revealed the full bracket by 6:37 p.m. ET, just over half an hour into the broadcast. In past years, the network faced criticism for prolonging the bracket reveal, an issue that even led to a leaked bracket nearly a decade ago. Fortunately, those days are behind, and CBS now provides fans with what they want in a timely manner during the Selection Show.
