March Madness 2026 has delivered its strongest start since the tournament’s 2011 CBS/TNT broadcast debut, with a 5% year-over-year viewership boost. The first three days (First Four games Tuesday-Wednesday and Thursday’s opening round) averaged 9.8 million viewers, per Nielsen, up from 2025’s 9.3 million. Thursday’s prime-time slots—featuring VCU’s upset over North Carolina—drew a record 12.5 million, while truTV’s First Four games totaled 7.5 million, with Miami (Ohio) vs. SMU hitting 2.8 million—the highest for Dayton’s First Four since 2021’s pandemic-era shift to Thursday games.