A surprising Women’s Final Four delivered one of the strongest performances the sport has had in years.
South Carolina-Mississippi State scored a 2.3 final rating and 3.8 million viewers in Sunday’s Women’s NCAA Tournament National Championship on ESPN, up 21% in ratings and 29% in viewership from UConn-Syracuse last year (1.9, 3.0M) and up 15% and 24% respectively from UConn-Notre Dame in 2015 (2.0, 3.1M), both of which aired on Tuesday nights.
The Gamecocks’ win, which peaked with 5.4 million viewers from 8-8:15 PM ET, ranks as the highest rated and most-watched women’s title game since UConn-Notre Dame in a battle of undefeated teams three years ago (2.8, 4.3M). Outside of 2014, it outdrew every championship game involving the Huskies since 2004.
Compared to the last title game that did not involve UConn, Baylor-Notre Dame in 2012, ratings fell 15% from 2.7 and viewership 10% from 4.2 million. Overall, Sunday’s audience ranks 10th out of the 22 women’s title games on ESPN (1996-present). Notably, five of the six most-watched title games since 2004 have not involved the Huskies.
Two nights earlier, Mississippi State’s overtime upset of UConn in the national semifinals had a 1.75 and 2.8 million on ESPN2 — up 73% in ratings and viewership from Syracuse-Washington last year (1.0, 1.6M) and up 17% and 15% respectively from UConn-Maryland on ESPN in 2015 (1.5, 2.4M). The end of UConn’s 111-game winning streak peaked with 4.0 million from Midnight-12:15 AM and was the most-watched semifinal game since UConn-Notre Dame in 2013 (3.0M).
Both games outdrew notable competition. Sunday’s championship game earned a higher rating and larger audience than the Cubs-Cardinals MLB Opening Night game that followed (2.1, 3.6M), and Friday’s semifinal beat the competing Rockets-Warriors NBA game on ESPN head-to-head (2.8M to 2.2M).
The only dud of the weekend was South Carolina-Stanford in Friday’s early window, which had a 1.0 (-33%) and 1.5 million (-35%) and was the least-watched Women’s Final Four game in at least ten years. Overall, the complete Women’s Final Four averaged 2.7 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2 — up 18% from last year (2.3M), up 9% from 2015 (2.5M) and the largest audience since 2014 (2.8M).
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 4.4 and Programming Insider 4.4, ESPN).
