On record.. ie. That’s when they started tracking this..
18.9M Viewers vs South Carolina(All-Time College WBB Record); 14.4M vs UConn; 12.3M vs LSU; 6.87M vs Colorado; 4.9M vs W Virginia; 3.23M vs Holy Cross
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
The numbers go back to the 1980's when the championship games started being televised.
Check out the dates of the top 6 most watched:
#6: 2023 final, LSU def. Iowa (ABC and ESPN2): 9.92 million
#5: 1986 final, Texas def. USC (CBS): 11.22 million
In the final college game played by Cheryl Miller, USC fell short to Texas in a national title game viewed by 11.22 million viewers — a 62 percent increase over the prior year.#4: 1983 final, USC def. Louisiana Tech (CBS): 11.84 million
Cheryl Miller’s first national championship attracted an audience of 11.84 million viewers, up 35% from the inaugural title game a year earlier#3: 2024 Elite 8, Iowa def. LSU (ESPN): 12.3 million
#2: 2024 Final Four, Iowa def. UConn (ESPN): 14.2 million
#1: 2024 National Championship, South Carolina def. IOWA (ABC): 18.7 million
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You wont like this.
Caucasians were tuning in to watch a white girls team led by a once in a lifetime player. There are approximately 16 million blacks in this country and most of them dont care about some team from Iowa with a player like CC.
The increase in viewership came from those caucasians.
Blacks tried to tear her down and diminish what she did but to CCs credit she raised herself above this and not once did she crack.
There, I've said it.
I would be more impressed if we won and she made those same comments in defeat, but I’ll take it!
Why this game was not on network TV is a headscratcher.
Not subjective at all ... particularly when you look at where UConn was before Geno. Geno built that program up from the ground up ... from scratch ... and took it to unprecedented levels.
Obviously, given what Geno has built, he's obviously has been able to stock his roster. That roster continues to be filled with WNBA-caliber talent ... much more so than Iowa's current roster ... even in spite having a depleted roster due to injuries.
I agree that Bluder does a great job ... mostly doing more with less. However, I think that there is a little bit of a double-edged sword when you look at Bluder and her schematic style. Bluder is all about O ... and Iowa's offense is, in my opinion, one of the most fun to watch in the collegiate-game (mens or womens). The ball-movement, the use of space is terrific, and the passing is a thing to behold! Furthermore, our transition game is terrific too. On top of all that ... Jan Jensen really does a great job of working with our posts in the O.
However, when it comes to other elements of the game ... it almost seems like Bluder is reliant more on being a "schemer" rather than a "fundamentalist." Perhaps that is attributable to having to contend with a talent-gap. Iowa's defensive tenacity almost always seems to be lacking. Also, Iowa's rebounding is wildly inconsistent. I'd attribute some of the issue there to the fact that we scheme on D so much ... that how you rebound out of different sets changes based on how you're covering space. Most of our success rebounding seems more attributable to getting boards after 3-point misses ... where our zone allows us to be spaced well-enough to retrieve those boards.
Anyhow, getting back to the topic at hand ... Geno's teams have historically be more well-rounded than Iowa's. I'd attribute that to Geno being more of a "fundamentalist" ... where folks don't play if they cannot be strong in all facets of the game. You gotta get boards ... you have to be a tenacious defender ... and you have to execute your role from within the O.
Even in spite of all UConn's talent ... their depleted roster should have made it so that Iowa's offensive pace should have been able to run them off the court. However, UConn's defensive tenacity shone through ... and they gave our Hawks one hell of a tussle.
The women's national championship game outdrew the men's.
apnews.com
Women's NCAA title game outdraws the men's championship with an average of 18.9 million viewers
South Carolina’s 87-75 victory over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the women’s NCAA championship game averaged 18.9 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, making it the second most-watched non-Olympic women’s sporting event on U.S. television.
apnews.com
i think this number is at least partially due to the transfer portal. you used to be able to root for kids on the team for 4 years; now they can leave after 1.
with unlimited transfers, the situation likely gets much worse
and with kids more interested in getting paid than in any loyalty to a school, i think that's turning fans off
I think it was part of the deal when they added the Turner channels to cover the whole NCAA tournament:
On April 22, 2010, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) reached a 14-year agreement, worth US$10.8 billion, with CBS and the Turner Broadcasting System to receive joint broadcast rights to the Division I men's college basketball tournament.[1][4][5] This came after speculation that ESPN would try to obtain the rights to future tournament games.[6] The NCAA took advantage of an opt-out clause in its 1999 deal with CBS (which ran through 2013, even though the NCAA had the option of ending the agreement after the 2010 championship) to announce its intention to sign a new contract with CBS and Turner Sports, a division of WarnerMedia, which later was absorbed into Warner Bros. Discovery. The new contract came amid serious consideration by the NCAA of expanding the tournament to 68 teams.
The agreement, which runs through 2032 (extended from 2024 in 2016), stipulates that all games are available nationally.[7] All First Four games air on truTV. During the first and second rounds, a featured game in each time "window" is broadcast terrestrially on CBS (15 games), while all other games are shown on TBS (12 games), TNT (12 games) or truTV (nine games). Sweet 16 (regional semifinal) and Elite 8 (regional finals) games are split among CBS and TBS. In 2014 and 2015, Turner channels had exclusive rights to the Final Four (with standard coverage airing on TBS), and CBS broadcast the championship game. Since 2016, rights to the Final Four and championship game alternate between Turner and CBS; the 2016 tournament marked the first time that the national championship game was not broadcast on over-the-air television.[8]
Men’s national title game audience up slightly over Last Year's Record-Low, trails Women’s for the First Time
By Jon Lewis
April 9, 2024
The NCAA men’s basketball national championship trailed the women’s for the first time, but nonetheless eked out an increase over last year’s record-low.
Monday’s UConn-Purdue NCAA men’s basketball national championship averaged a 7.6 rating and 14.82 million viewers across TBS (7.40M), TNT (6.20M) and truTV (1.22M) — down 3% in ratings but up 1% in viewership from UConn-San Diego State on CBS last year (7.8, 14.7M). The Huskies’ ho-hum win ranks as the lowest rated national title game on record, but topped the all-time viewership low set last year.
For the first time, the men’s national championship was outdrawn by the women’s title game. Iowa-South Carolina averaged a 9.3 and 18.89 million across ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes the previous day, making it the most-watched basketball game of any kind since 2019. After topping the women’s title game by 48% last year — and triple-figures in all prior years — the men’s title game trailed by 21% this season.
This year is thus the first since 2018 in which the men’s tournament will not deliver the largest basketball audience of the year.
While the men’s title game finished four million viewers shy of the women’s, the two events tied in adults 18-49 (3.9). Previously, both of Saturday’s national semifinals were outdrawn by Iowa-UConn in the Women’s Final Four.
This year also marks the first time that neither the national championship nor national semifinals were the most-watched game of the men’s tournament, as NC State-Duke in the Elite Eight finished in the top spot with 15.14 million. That Elite Eight game aired on Easter Sunday, a day associated with higher viewing levels in the out-of-home era.
This season was the second of the past three in which the national championship was not the most-watched of the tournament. Two years ago, the North Carolina-Duke national semifinal finished ahead of the Kansas-North Carolina title game. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, those are two of only four years in which the national title game aired on cable.
Overall, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament averaged a combined 5.0 rating and 9.86 million viewers per window across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV — down 3% in ratings but up 3% in viewership from last year (5.2, 9.55M). On an individual basis, the games averaged a 2.1 and 4.14 million, down a tick but up 2% respectively from last year (2.2, 4.07M).
Men’s Final Four viewership up slightly; both games trail Iowa-UConn women
By Jon Lewis
April 9, 2024
The NCAA men’s Final Four was a mixed bag in the ratings, and in a first, both games were outdrawn by a women’s national semifinal the prior night.
Saturday’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament national semifinals averaged a combined 6.0 rating and 12.84 million viewers across TBS, TNT and truTV — down 2% in ratings but up 4% in viewership from last year on CBS (6.2, 12.34M).
The games averaged a 21 share, tying 2001, 2015 and 2022 as the highest since 1998. (The share — the percentage of homes or viewers watching in the average minute out of the number using television — will tend to rise as television viewership declines.)
UConn-Alabama averaged a combined 6.7 and 14.18 million, up 5% in ratings and 10% in viewership from UConn-Miami on CBS last year (6.4, 12.85M). Purdue-NC State led in with a 5.3 and 11.45 million, down 12% and 4% respectively from San Diego State-FAU a year ago (6.0, 11.90M).
TBS was the top draw for both semifinals with a 3.1 and 6.57 million for UConn-Alabama and a 2.6 and 5.75 million for Purdue-NC State, but TNT ranked not far behind at a 3.0 and 6.39 million and 2.2 and 4.64 million, respectively — the smallest gap between the TBS and TNT airings since the Turner networks began airing the Final Four in 2014.
As one would expect, truTV brought up the rear with a 0.6 and 1.16 million for UConn-Alabama and a 0.47 and 1.06 million for Purdue-NC State.
Neither national semifinal averaged as large an audience as Iowa-UConn in the Women’s Final Four the previous night, marking the first time ever that any game of the Women’s Final Four has averaged more viewers than either of the men’s games. Iowa’s win averaged a 7.1 and 14.42 million across ESPN (6.9, 13.91M) and ESPN2 (0.27, 505K).
This year marks the first time in recent memory — if not ever — that the men’s Final Four was not the most-watched sporting event of the week in which it took place.
The full Men’s Final Four did outdraw the women’s edition, which averaged a 5.5 rating and 11.01 million.
Heading into UConn’s national championship victory over Purdue on Monday, the NCAA men’s tournament was averaging a combined 4.9 rating and 9.69 million viewers per window across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV — down 3% in ratings but up 4% in viewership from last year (5.1, 9.35M). On an individual basis, the games were averaging a 2.0 and 3.99 million, down a tick and up 2% respectively from last year (2.1, 3.90M).
Viewership has risen disproportionately in the key young adult demographic of 18-34 (+15%).
Has anyone seen good local market TV ratings for the Iowa-LSU, Iowa-UConn, or Iowa-S.Carolina games? Haven't seen anything other than the below tweet:
