Women's National Championship Ratings Avoid Low

Overnights did not look promising, but final figures for the Women’s NCAA Tournament final held up well on ESPN.

Sunday’s Notre Dame-Mississippi State Women’s NCAA Tournament national championship scored a 2.0 rating and 3.5 million viewers on ESPN, down 13% in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (SC-Mississippi State: 2.3, 3.9M). Figures include TV and streaming viewership.

Compared to the 2016 UConn-Syracuse final, ratings increased a tick (from 1.9) and viewership 19% (from 3.0M). The 2016 figures are for TV only.

Though down from last year, viewership for Notre Dame’s last-second win ranks third out of the last six title games, topping three of the four UConn titles in the Breanna Stewart era (2013-16). Going back further, it ranks fifth out of the last ten championships and seventh out of the past 14 — middle-of-the-pack any way one slices it.

That may not sound impressive, but ratings in the metered markets were the lowest in nine-years. By that standard, middle-of-the-pack is a marked improvement. The final rating did not hold up as well, tying as the second-lowest since ’09.

Sunday’s game was the most-watched basketball telecast on ESPN since last year’s NBA Playoffs. It edged the network’s most-watched men’s college basketball and NBA games this season, Virginia-North Carolina in the ACC Tournament final (3.44M) and Sixers-Knicks on Christmas Day (3.43M).

For the day, it ranked second among sporting events behind the final round of the PGA Houston Open (3.9M) and took top honors in adults 18-49 (0.8). It nearly doubled its lead-out, Giants-Dodgers on the season premiere of Sunday Night Baseball (1.1, 1.9M).

Host city Columbus (Ohio) led all markets Sunday night with an 8.5 rating. Louisville (7.5) and Hartford-New Haven (7.1), whose teams were eliminated in the semifinals, followed. A pair of Tennessee markets rounded out the top five, with Knoxville fourth (6.5) and Memphis fifth (4.9).