Aided by a strong finish, this year’s Women’s NCAA Tournament had a slight increase in viewership over last year.
The ESPN family of networks averaged a 0.6 U.S. rating and 864,000 viewers for coverage of the 2014 Women’s NCAA Tournament, flat in ratings and up 5% in viewership from last year (0.6, 823K).
The tournament benefited from strong numbers for the Connecticut/Notre Dame National Championship Game, which was the highest rated and most-viewed in ten years (2.8, 4.3M), and the sixth-most viewed title game since ESPN acquired rights to the event in 1996. [More details on the title game here.]
The title game marked a turnaround from Sunday night, when both games of the Final Four declined. Connecticut/Stanford drew 2.3 million viewers on ESPN, down 24% from Connecticut/Notre Dame last year (3.0M) and down 38% from Baylor/Stanford in 2012 (3.8M). The early Notre Dame/Maryland game earned 1.8 million — down 21% from Louisville/Cal last year (2.3M), and down 39% from Notre Dame/Connecticut in 2012 (2.9M).
Outside of the Final Four, the top telecast of the tournament was BYU/UConn in the Sweet Sixteen (0.9, 1.5M).
Ratings/Viewership For 2014 Women’s NCAA Tournament
|
Window
|
Time
|
Game
|
Net(s)
|
Rating
|
Viewers
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
FIRST ROUND
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Saturday, March 22
|
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Aft. #1
|
11:00 AM | Winthrop/Duke, Wright St./Kentucky, Arizona St./Vanderbilt, or FGSU/Okla. St. | ESPN2 | 0.2 | 288K |
|
Aft. #2
|
1:30 PM | Oklahoma/DePaul, Chattanooga/Syracuse, or Akron/Purdue | ESPN2 | 0.2 | 274K |
| 1:30 PM | Robert Morris/Notre Dame | ESPN | 0.2 | 317K | |
|
Eve. #1
|
4:00 PM | FSU/Iowa, Northwestern/Tennessee, Fresno St./Nebraska, or Fordham/Cal | ESPN2 | 0.3 | 551K |
|
Eve. #2
|
6:30 PM | SDSU/Stanford, USC/St. John’s, BYU/N.C. State or WKU/Baylor | ESPN2 | 0.2 | 436K |
|
Sunday, March 23
|
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Aft. #1
|
12:00 PM | GT/LSU, Hampton/Mich. St., Army/Maryland or Wichita St./PSU | ESPN2 | 0.2 | 224K |
|
Aft. #2
|
3:00 PM | Albany/WVU, Tennessee-Mart./UNC, Penn/Texas or Florida/Dayton | ESPN | 0.3 | 433K |
|
Eve. #1
|
5:30 PM | JMU/Gonzaga, Idaho/Louisville, CS Northridge/South Carolina or St. Joe’s/UGA | ESPN | 0.3 | 469K |
|
Eve. #2
|
8:00 PM | North Dakota/TAMU, Marist/Iowa or Oreg. St./Mid. Tenn. | ESPN2 | 0.1 | 196K |
| 8:00 PM | Prairie View A&M/UConn | ESPN | 0.3 | 474K | |
|
SECOND ROUND
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Monday, March 24
|
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|
Eve. #1
|
6:30 PM | DePaul/Duke, Syracuse/Kentucky, FSU/Stanford or Ariz. St./Notre Dame | ESPN2 | 0.3 | 486K |
| 6:30 PM | Arizona St./Notre Dame simulcast | ESPNEWS | 0.1 | 103K | |
|
Eve. #2
|
9:00 PM | Okla. St./Purdue, St. John’s/Tennessee, BYU/Nebraska, or Cal/Baylor | ESPN2 | 0.5 | 864K |
|
Tuesday, March 25
|
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|
Eve. #1
|
7:00 PM | Mich. St./UNC, Texas/Maryland, Florida/PSU or St. Joe’s/UConn | ESPN2 | 0.4 | 534K |
| 7:00 PM | St. Joseph’s/UConn simulcast | ESPNU | 0.1 | 144K | |
|
Eve. #2
|
9:30 PM | JMU/TAMU, Iowa/Louisville, Ore. St./So. Carolina or LSU/WVU | ESPN2 | 0.4 | 551K |
|
SWEET SIXTEEN
|
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Saturday, March 29
|
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|
Aft. #1
|
12:00 PM | Kentucky/Baylor | ESPN | 0.6 | 870K |
|
Aft. #2
|
2:00 PM | Oklahoma St./Notre Dame | ESPN | 0.8 | 1.194M |
|
Eve. #1
|
4:30 PM | BYU/UConn | ESPN | 0.9 | 1.469M |
|
Eve. #2
|
6:30 PM | DePaul/Texas A&M | ESPN | 0.4 | 556K |
|
Sunday, March 30
|
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|
Aft. #1
|
12:00 PM | Maryland/Tennessee | ESPN | 0.7 | 1.048M |
|
Aft. #2
|
2:00 PM | LSU/Louisville | ESPN2 | 0.3 | 447K |
|
Eve. #1
|
4:30 PM | Penn St./Stanford | ESPN2 | 0.3 | 373K |
|
Eve. #2
|
6:30 PM | UNC/South Carolina | ESPN2 | 0.5 | 772K |
|
ELITE EIGHT
|
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Monday, March 31
|
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|
Eve. #1
|
7:30 PM | Baylor/Notre Dame | ESPN | 0.8 | 1.270M |
|
Eve. #2
|
9:30 PM | TAMU/UConn | ESPN | 0.9 | 1.320M |
|
Tuesday, April 1
|
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|
Eve. #1
|
2:20 PM | Maryland/Louisville | ESPN | 0.7 | 967K |
|
Eve. #2
|
5:05 PM | UNC/Stanford | ESPN | 0.7 | 1.019M |
|
FINAL FOUR
|
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|
Sunday, April 6
|
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|
Eve. #1
|
6:09 PM | Maryland/Notre Dame | ESPN | 1.2 | 1.806M |
|
Eve. #2
|
8:49 PM | Stanford/UConn | ESPN | 1.5 | 2.312M |
|
Tuesday, April 8
|
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|
Eve. #1
|
9:00 PM | Notre Dame/UConn | ESPN | 2.8 | 4.271M |
(Averages from ESPN; game-by-game numbers from Son of the Bronx [1], [2], [3])
