The penultimate victory of Connecticut’s championship season drew strong numbers on ESPN.
Sunday’s Connecticut/Baylor Women’s National Semifinal drew a 2.4 U.S. rating and 3.8 million viewers on ESPN, up 41% and 42%, respectively, from Connecticut/Stanford last year (1.7, 2.7 mil), and flat in ratings and up 5% in viewership from Tennessee/LSU in ’08 (2.4, 3.6 mil).
Connecticut/Baylor was the second most-viewed cable program of Sunday night and the #3 program among adults 18-49.
The game outdrew the Yankees/Red Sox MLB Opening Night matchup on ESPN2 (2.0, 3.2 mil) head-to-head. Keep in mind Yankees/Red Sox was blacked out in New York and Boston.
Sunday’s game drew higher ratings and ranked higher among men than women. For example, the game drew a 1.2 rating among men 18-49, #3 for the night on cable in the demographic. Among women 18-49, it drew a 0.9, #5 for the night.
Earlier in the night, Stanford’s win over Oklahoma drew a 1.4 U.S. rating and 2.2 million viewers, down 13% in ratings and 8% in viewership from Louisville/Oklahoma last year (1.6, 2.4 mil), and down 22% and 20%, respectively, from Stanford/Connecticut in ’08 (1.8, 2.8 mil).
(ESPN, pifeedback.com)
