NEW YORK ? Michigan's win over UConn delivered the largest television audience for the NCAA men's basketball title game since 2019, giving the tournament a strong finish after weeks of elevated viewership.

In audience figures released Thursday, The Associated Press said the championship averaged 18.3 million viewers across TBS, TNT, truTV and HBO Max, with viewership peaking above 20 million late in the game.

The title game numbers followed the on-court result from Monday night, when AP's game report said Michigan beat UConn 69-63 for the Wolverines' first championship since 1989.

A separate media-business roundup from Sports Business Journal said the strong finish came as college basketball maintained unusual momentum across both the men's and women's tournaments, with out-of-home measurement and sustained postseason interest helping keep numbers high.

For the men's tournament, the championship audience offered a final confirmation that Michigan's title run and UConn's pursuit of another crown carried well beyond the core college-basketball audience.