After weak numbers for the semifinals, the championship game of the Women’s NCAA Tournament hit a 10-year high in the metered markets.
Tuesday’s Connecticut/Notre Dame Women’s NCAA Tournament title game earned a 3.1 overnight rating on ESPN, up 48% from Connecticut/Louisville last year (2.1), and up 19% from Baylor/Notre Dame in 2012 (2.6). The 3.1 overnight is the highest for the championship game since Connecticut/Tennessee in 2004, and the highest for any basketball game on ESPN — college or pro, men or women — since last year’s NBA Playoffs.
The game attracted extra attention this year as both teams were undefeated. One imagines that if the game had actually been competitive, the numbers would have been even better.
Connecticut’s win earned a 29.3 rating in Hartford. By comparison, Connecticut’s win in the men’s title game the previous day earned a 33.0 local rating on broadcast network CBS. Host market Nashville (6.8) ranked second, with Knoxville (6.0), Louisville (5.5), and Indianapolis (4.8) rounding out the top five.
(Tue. overnights from ESPN Media Zone, Sports Business Daily)
