Fueled by Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, the Women’s Final Four delivered record viewership and massive gains for ESPN Friday night.
Friday’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament national semifinals averaged 4.5 million viewers on the ESPN family of networks, per Nielsen fast-nationals, up two-thirds from last year and the highest average on record for the Women’s Final Four.
Iowa’s upset of previously-undefeated South Carolina led the way with 5.5 million, up 72% from last year (UConn-Stanford: 3.23M) and the most-watched women’s national semifinal on record. It also delivered the largest audience for any game of the women’s tournament — including the National Championship — since the 2004 UConn-Tennessee title game (5.6M).
The Hawkeyes’ win, which peaked with 6.6 million viewers, ranks third all-time among women’s tournament games on the ESPN family of networks behind the 2004 final and the 2002 UConn-Oklahoma title game (5.7M). It ranks as the most-watched college basketball game on the ESPN networks, regardless of gender, since a Duke-North Carolina men’s game in 2008 (5.6M)
Excluding college and pro football, it also ranks as the most-watched sporting event on the ESPN cable networks since Game 7 of last year’s NBA Eastern Conference Finals (Celtics-Heat: 9.88M).
By comparison, last year’s South Carolina-UConn national championship averaged 4.85 million.
The LSU-Virginia Tech lead-in averaged 3.4 million, up 57% from last year (South Carolina-Louisville: 2.16M) and the most-watched early semifinal on record. Outside of Iowa-South Carolina, the Tigers’ win ranks as the most-watched national semifinal — early or late — since 2012 (Baylor-Stanford: 3.76M).
In addition to the linear TV milestones, the two semifinals rank as the most-watched college basketball games ever on ESPN+. (It was not immediately clear whether the ESPN+ numbers are factored into the Nielsen-reported audience.)
As with all multi-year highs, keep in mind that out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen fast or final nationals prior to three years ago.
(Nielsen estimates from ESPN PR)
