Despite facing competition from the NFL, the NCAA women’s volleyball final surged to a new viewership high in its ABC debut.
Sunday’s Texas-Nebraska NCAA women’s volleyball national championship averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.69 million viewers on ABC, surpassing a regional window on FOX in October (1.66M) to rank as the largest women’s college volleyball audience on record. Keep in mind the October window had a direct lead-in from the NFL, which helped mitigate the NFL competition.
The Longhorns’ win, which peaked with 2.1 million viewers, cruised past the previous high for a national championship game — 1.20 million for Nebraska-Wisconsin on ESPN2 two years ago. Keep in mind that 2021 match went the full five sets, while Texas won this year in a three-set sweep.
Compared to last year’s title game — Texas-Louisville in a Saturday night window on ESPN2 — ratings jumped 95% and viewership 115% from a 0.39 and 786,000. In the same Sunday afternoon window last year, ABC averaged 381,000 for a Tennessee-Stanford regular season women’s college basketball game.
The NCAA women’s volleyball final ranks sixth among major college championships over the past year, trailing the national title games of FBS football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball, though it is worth noting that none of those other championship events faced NFL competition.
Notably, female viewers accounted for more than half (51%) of the audience, per ESPN.
