NCAA(R) Division I Men's Basketball Championship

Across the second and third rounds of the NCAA Tournament (Thu-Sun), CBS Sports and Turners Sports' exclusive coverage of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship has averaged a 5.6 U.S. household rating, up 13% vs. 2010 coverage (4.8 household rating) and tied with 2011 coverage.

Source: Nielsen Media Research, based on Fast National Data, Live +SD data stream. 3/15-3/18/12 vs 3/17-3/20/11. 2011 and 2012 averages based on weighted average of 4 telecast gross across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. Historical audiences, CBS 1991 through 2005 based on Live data. 2006 through 2012 based on Live + SD. 2003 based on CBS / ESPN average of First Round.

TBS

TBS's newly announced victory as basic cable's #1 network in Q1 2012 includes many weekly wins along the way. Last week was no exception, as TBS claimed the top spot in primetime among adults 18-34 and adults 18-49.

The Big Bang Theory, which easily ranks as basic cable's #1 sitcom for the quarter, continued its domination last week, charting 13 of basic cable's Top 15 most-watched sitcom telecasts and four episodes drawing more than 3 million viewers. The show also scored 12 of the Top 15 sitcom telecast for the week with adults 18-49.

TBS's Emmy(R)-nominated late-night series CONAN, which has enjoyed a significant jump in ratings over last quarter, continued to build audience through time-shifted viewing. For the week of Feb. 27, CONAN climbed to 1.1 million viewers in Live + 7, with 450,000 adults 18-34 and 785,000 adults 18-49. CONAN has benefited from the larger lead-in audience, resulting in five consecutive months of growth and a big jump over last quarter.

Adult Swim

Across the third week of March, Adult Swim ranked as basic cable's #1 network for Total Day Delivery of young adult and young men demos - adults 18-34, 18-49 & 18-24, as well as men 18-34, 18-49 & 18-24.

Sunday night's presentation of the Adult Swim original series Robot Chicken (10 p.m.) scored impressive gains among adults 18-24 (up 26%) and adults 18-49 (up 9%). Additionall, premiere episodes of both Family Guy (Monday, 11 p.m.) and American Dad (Friday, 10 p.m.) ranked #1 in their respective time periods among adults 18-24.

Thursday night's premiere episode of original series Delocated (12 a.m.) also earned solid delivery gains across all adult and young male demos vs. the same time period last year. Adults 18-34 (608,000) grew by 19%, adults 18-49 (840,000) grew by 3% and adults 18-24 (280,000) grew by 4%.

Adult Swim programming - including Family Guy, Robot Chicken and American Dad - accounted for 20 of the top 50 telecasts for the week on basic cable among adults 18-34 (more than any other network), and 22 of the top 50 among men 18-34, also more than any other network.

Cartoon Network

For three straight weeks this month, Cartoon Network claimed television's #1 network for the week among boys (2-11, 6-11, 9-14) in Early Evening Prime (7-9 p.m.), charting remarkable double-digit delivery growth across all kids demos in both Prime and Total Day ranging between 10% and 22%. In Prime (7-9 p.m.), average kids 2-11 delivery (810,000) grew by 13%, kids 6-11 (595,000) by 22% and kids 9-14 (473,000) by 18%. In Total Day, average kids 2-11 (536,000) grew by 10%, kids 6-11 (351,000) by 15% and kids 9-14 (283,000) by 16%.

Winning Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights (7-9 p.m.) among boys 2-11, 6-11 and 9-14, Cartoon Network also was the #1 destination for boys 6-11 & 9-14 on Friday night. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights posted double and triple-digit delivery increases across all kids demos (2-11, 6-11 & 9-14), ranging between 17% and 110% vs. the same time periods last year. Wednesday night's premiere episode of Ninjago (8 p.m.) was the #1 telecast of the week among boys 6-11 & 9-14, and the #1 telecast of the day among boys 2-11.

Among the network's original comedy programming, Monday's Adventure Time (7 p.m., 7:30 p.m.) and Regular Show (8 p.m.) each ranked #1 in their time periods among boys, while MAD (8:30 p.m.) scored as the #1 telecast of the day among all boy demos.

Saturday morning's presentation of the new DC Nation block, featuring Green Lantern (10 a.m.) and Young Justice (10:30 a.m.), continued to earn significant delivery gains across all kids demos vs. the same time period last year. Young Justice's kids 2-11, 6-11 & 9-14 average delivery grew between 30% and 55%, while Green Lantern's boys demo deliveries grew between 15% and 32%. Saturday night (7-9 p.m.) also scored as television's #1 destination among boys 2-11 & 6-11.

truTV

Fueled by its coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, truTV ranked among ad-supported cable's Top 10 networks in primetime delivery of men 18-49 (388,000) and men 18-34 (179,000).

truTV perfomed strongly throughout the week, tallying Top 10 primetime rankings for men 18-49 and men 18-34 on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights.

The network capped off its week with Round 3 coverage of the Xavier vs. Lehigh contest on Sunday, March 18, 8-10:30 p.m., which earned Top 5 time-period rankings for men 18-49 (695,000) and men 18-34 (349,000).

As announced earlier today, truTV is now on track to earn its most-watched quarter ever in primetime delivery of adults 18-49 and men 18-34, two target demographics for the network.

TNT

TNT's acclaimed cop drama Southland brought in more than 2.5 million viewers in Live + 3 delivery last week (1.8 million in Live + Same Day). The show also scored 1.2 million adults 18-49 and 1.3 million adults 25-54. With only the finale left in its powerful fourth season, Southland continues to show growth compared to season three, with adults 18-49 up 6% and adults 25-54 up 3%.

NBA TV

Through 12 weeks of NBA TV's 2011-12 regular-season schedule, the network continues to experience significant increases compared to last season with three of this season's games among NBA TV's top five most-watched games ever. NBA TV is averaging 348,000 total viewers (+36 %) and 272,000 households (+36%) through 68 games.

NBA TV's Fan Night is also experiencing incredible increases compared to the same time last year. The Fan Night game featuring the Miami Heat vs. the Orlando Magic (March 13) was the No. 1 Fan Night game of the 2011-12 season among households, 367,000 (+20%) through 17 Fan Night games.