College Basketball
2025 NCAA Tournament Ratings: Florida-Houston Most-Watched Championship Since 2019
Dan is a multifaceted content creator who specializes in sports, pop culture, and entertainment. His entertainment work has been featured on Digital Trends, where he has interviewed Brendan Fraser, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alison Brie, Adam DeVine, Sadie Sink, Chris O'Dowd, Machine Gun Kelly, and Frank Grillo. Dan's entertainment work has also been featured on Coming Soon, Hidden Remote, and WatchMojo. Dan's other ion in life revolves around sports, graduating from Marist College with a degree in Sports Communication and Journalism. From columns about the latest in New York sports to gambling predictions, Dan continues to find success in written and broadcast journalism. Previous written work can be found at Unafraid Show, while broadcast clips can be seen on WAVE.tv and CBS Sports.
Get to know Dan Girolamo betterPublished08 Apr 2025
The ratings are in for Monday’s national championship between Florida and Houston. It’s a win for CBS, as Florida vs. Houston delivered the biggest audience for the national championship game since 2019.
2025 National Championship Ratings
National Championship between Florida and Houston delivers 18.1 million viewers on CBS, capping off the most-watched Final Four weekend since 2017 pic.twitter.com/3FmBOMDGuF
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) April 8, 2025
The Florida Gators defeated the Houston Cougars 65-63 to win the national championship in a hard-fought game.
A glance at the early ratings reveals that viewers clearly loved the intense battle.
Per Nielsen’s numbers, Monday night’s game averaged 18.1 million viewers on CBS. That’s a 22% increase from 2024’s game between UConn and Purdue (14.8 million viewers) and a 23% increase from 2023’s game between UConn and San Diego State (14.7 million viewers).
Florida-Houston is the most-watched national championship since 2019, when Virginia bested Texas Tech on championship Monday.
The game peaked in the final moments, with 21.1 million viewers tuning in for the game’s final moments, which saw Florida make a key defensive stop to preserve the victory.
The game airing on CBS instead of TBS definitely helps draw higher ratings.
Also, the game tipped at 8:50 p.m. ET, 30 minutes earlier than the typical 9:20 p.m. ET start time in previous years. Expect that time change to be implemented moving forward.
Ratings Success For 2025 Final Four
Update: Per Nielsen final national data, Saturday’s Final Four viewership increases to 15.5 Million Viewers (+21%) with a peak of 20.7 Million Viewers
Florida-Auburn: 14.8 Million Viewers (+29%), now the best early game since 2015
Houston-Duke: 16.3 Million Viewers (+15%) https://t.co/IO4UVe7Pwk
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) April 8, 2025
Monday night’s game caps off a terrific Final Four that translated to good TV ratings.
Saturday’s Final Four averaged 15.5 million viewers, an increase of 21% since last year. The first matchup between Florida and Auburn is the most-watched early game in the Final Four since 2015.
Houston’s historic comeback against Duke is the most-watched game in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, with an average of 16.3 million viewers.
