Viewership #s the season after Caitlin. Most Watched WBB game so far: 2.3M, UConn-USC on FOX (followed an NFL game; Sat, Dec 21). 1.1M for USC at IOWA

[Franisdaman]

Tues March 4, 2025

ESPN averaged 685,000 for Kentucky-South Carolina and 584,000 for Louisville-Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon (March 2). The doubleheader increased over last year, which featured three of the same four teams — albeit in reverse order (Louisville-Notre Dame: 356K; Tennessee-South Carolina: 679K).

USC-UCLA averaged 660,000 on FOX Saturday night (March 1), down 50% from a Michigan State-Purdue men’s game last year (1.32M).

Big Ten tops college hoops slate with Sunday CBS doubleheader

After back-to-back weeks in which the SEC topped the charts, the Big Ten took top honors this past weekend.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

 

[Franisdaman]

March 11, 2025 story:

Sunday’s UCLA-USC Big Ten Tournament final averaged 1.44 million viewers on CBS, trailing only Caitlin Clark-led Iowa against Nebraska last year (3.02M) as the largest audience on record for the game. Viewership for the matchup of longtime Pac-12 rivals was the same as last year’s USC-Stanford Pac-12 Tournament final, which aired on ESPN.

UCLA’s win, which peaked with 2.13 million viewers, delivered the fourth-largest audience of the women’s season — behind a December USC-UConn game on FOX that had an NFL lead-in (2.3M) and an ABC doubleheader of UConn-South Carolina (1.8M) and LSU-Texas (1.7M) in February.

Earlier in the day, ESPN averaged 1.3 million for the South Carolina-Texas SEC Tournament final — trailing only South Carolina against Angel Reese and LSU last year (2.0M) as the most watched edition of the game.

If no match for last year, both games easily exceeded 2023 — when the South Carolina-Tennessee SEC title game drew 866,000 and the Iowa-Ohio State Big Ten title game drew 745,000, both on ESPN.

In other championship week action, the Duke-NC State ACC Tournament final and TCU-Baylor Big 12 Tournament final both set new viewership records with an average of 833,000 and 759,000 respectively. The former increased 23% from last year and the latter 126%.

On Monday night, the UConn-Creighton Big East Tournament final averaged 492,000 viewers on FS1, the second-largest audience for the tournament since it moved to Fox Sports. The record was set by the previous day’s UConn-Villanova semifinal, which averaged 748,000 on the FOX broadcast network.

As for the regular season, the ESPN networks averaged 280,000 for regular season games — not counting championship week — up 3% from last year and the highest average since the 2008-09 season. (Keep in mind that Caitlin Clark rarely played on ESPN last season, as the network is not a Big Ten rights partner.)

In particular, ESPN averaged 511,000 viewers (+13%) and ABC scored 1.2 million for its three games (+120%).

If below Clark heights, women's conference title games still in record territory

No game could reach last year's star-studded heights, but viewership remained strong for women's college basketball conference title games.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

 

[Franisdaman]

The 12 Most Watched WBB games so far this season:

(1) 2.3M: UConn-USC on FOX following an NFL game; Saturday, Dec 21, 2024

(2) 1.8M: #7 UConn at #4 South Carolina on ESPN; Sunday, Feb 16, 2025

(3) 1.7M: #5 LSU at #3 Texas on ESPN; Sunday, Feb 16, 2025

(4) 1.44M: UCLA-USC Big Ten Tournament final on CBS, Sunday, March 9, 2025

(5) 1.3M: South Carolina-Texas SEC Tournament final on ESPN; Sunday, March 9, 2025

(6) 1.1M: #4 USC at IOWA on FOX; Sunday, Feb 2, 2025 (Caitlin's #22 jersey retirement ceremony followed the game, which IOWA won)

(7) 1.0M: USC-Indiana on NBC; Sunday, Jan 19, 2025

(8) 887K: Notre Dame-NC State on ESPN; Sunday Feb 23, 2025

(9) 847K: UConn-Notre Dame on ESPN; Thursday, Dec 12, 2024

(10) 841K: LSU-South Carolina on ESPN; Friday, Jan 24, 2025 (postponed from primetime Thur. Jan 23 to a late afternoon window on Fri Jan 24)

(11) 833K: Duke-NC State ACC Tournament final on ESPN; Sunday, March 9, 2025

(12) 831K: UConn-Tennessee on ESPN; Thursday, Feb 6, 2025

Compare those numbers to Last Season:

Prior to the start of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Iowa had the 5 most-watched games in the country (includes the 3.02M who watched Iowa beat Nebraska in the B1G Tourney title game on March 10, 2024).

(#1) 3.39M watched on FOX on March 3rd, 2024 (Senior Day), as Catlin scored 35 points and passed Pete Maravich as the NCAA Division I overall career scoring leader during the Hawkeyes’ 93-83 win over Ohio State.

(#2) 3.02M watched Iowa beat Nebraska in the B1G Tourney title game on March 10, 2024.

(#3) 1.93M watched Iowa on Sunday Jan 21, 2024 at Ohio State (Iowa lost 100-92 in OT).

(#4) 1.8M watched Iowa on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb 11, 2024) at Nebraska (Nebraska won 82-79).

(#5) 1.578M watched Iowa on Saturday Feb 3, 2024 at Maryland (Iowa won 93-85).

(#6): 1.56M watched South Carolina vs. LSU on ESPN on Thu, Jan 25, 2024.