The ratings records continue to fall as Caitlin Clark and Iowa move through the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.
Saturday’s Iowa-Colorado NCAA women’s basketball tournament regional semifinal averaged 3.6 rating and 6.87 million viewers on ABC, trailing only last year’s LSU-Iowa final (9.92M) as the most-watched women’s tournament game since 1995.
The Hawkeyes’ win more-than-doubled last year’s comparable Ohio State-UConn game, which was at the time the most-watched regional semifinal on record (1.4, 2.41M).
Iowa-Colorado was the second-most watched sporting event of the day, topping UConn’s rout of Illinois in the men’s Elite Eight on TBS and truTV (3.0, 6.48M). The Alabama-Clemson men’s Elite Eight game took top honors with a 3.8 and 7.79 million.
Earlier in the day, LSU-UCLA averaged a 2.2 and 3.83 million — more-than-double South Carolina-UCLA on ESPN in the same window last year (1.0, 1.75M) and the third-largest tournament audience on record prior to the Final Four. Only Iowa-Colorado later in the day and Iowa-West Virginia in the second round (4.90M) averaged more viewers.
Shifting to cable, UConn-Duke averaged a 1.1 and 1.98 million and USC-Baylor a 0.9 and 1.70 million on ESPN. There was only one late window last year, Virginia Tech-Ohio State on ESPN2 at a 0.46 and 782,000.
Overall, Saturday’s regional semifinals averaged a 1.9 and 3.57 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, up 119% in ratings and 133% in viewership from last year’s 0.9 and 1.53 million. The full Sweet 16 averaged a 1.4 and 2.45 million, up 87% and 96% respectively from last year’s 0.7 and 1.25 million.
Moving to Sunday’s regional finals, South Carolina-Oregon State averaged a 1.6 and 3.07 million on ABC — the largest audience on record for the women’s Elite Eight, though that record will surely be broken by Monday’s Iowa-LSU game. NC State-Texas followed with a 1.4 and 2.47 million. Compared to last year’s Sunday games, which aired in primetime on ESPN and included both Iowa and LSU, ratings increased 22% and viewership 26% from a 1.2 and 2.19 million.
