A matchup of UConn and Notre Dame delivered the top audience of the early women’s college basketball season. Plus: MLS Cup viewership sank to a new low; another decline for the NHL; and NCAA women’s soccer and water polo numbers.
UConn-Notre Dame top women’s game of early season
Thursday’s UConn-Notre Dame women’s college basketball game averaged a 0.49 rating and 847,000 viewers on ESPN, easily the most-watched game of the women’s season thus far. Notre Dame’s win, which peaked with 915,000 viewers, delivered the largest pre-January women’s college basketball audience on the ESPN networks since 2011.
In other college hoops action, Tuesday’s Jimmy V Classic men’s doubleheader averaged 791,000 viewers on ESPN, down 20% from last year’s edition (994K). Michigan-Arkansas drew 926,000 viewers, down 23% from North Carolina-UConn a year ago (1.21 million), and Miami-Tennessee led-in with 628,000 — down 18% from Florida Atlantic-Illinois a year ago (768K).
MLS Cup sinks to new low
Last Saturday’s Galaxy-Red Bulls MLS Cup averaged 468,000 viewers across Fox and Fox Deportes, down 47% from last year’s edition (890K). English-language coverage averaged 427,000 viewers on the Fox broadcast, down 48% from 815,000 viewers last year (815K). Fox Deportes averaged just 41,000 viewers, down 45% from the 2023 MLS Cup broadcast.
During the MLS Cup time slot, the entirety of Apple TV+ averaged just 287,000 viewers — up only slightly from around the 222,000 people that were watching the service the previous Saturday, according to John Ourand of Puck.
Unlike last year, the MLS Cup went head-to-head with college football’s conference championship weekend, while last year the only college football competition was the annual Army-Navy Game. However, the increased competition is not enough to solely factor in the nearly 50% decrease in television audience. As recently as 2022 (the last year before the Apple deal), the MLS Cup drew 2.16 million viewers across English and Spanish-language.
NHL on TNT Wednesday down once again
Wednesday’s Rangers-Sabres NHL regular season game averaged 478,000 viewers across TNT and truTV, down 11% from a non-exclusive Bruins-Devils game last season (538K). The Rangers’ win nonetheless ranks as the fourth most-watched NHL game on TNT Sports this season, with three of the four most-watched games this season airing in the past three weeks.
Overall, TNT Sports’ NHL season average is currently down 24% vs. last season, but up 2% from the 2022-2023 season.
Fewer viewers for NCAA women’s soccer final
Monday’s North Carolina-Wake Forest NCAA women’s soccer national championship averaged 56,000 viewers on ESPNU, down 28% from Stanford-Florida State last year (78K). The semifinals averaged 58,000 viewers on ESPNU (-13%).
In other national championship action, last weekend’s NCAA men’s water polo championship between USC-UCLA averaged just 5,000 viewers on ESPNU.
Jon Lewis contributed reporting to this article.
