Women’s Final Four ratings were a mixed bag, with the national championship up and the national semifinals at lows.
Sunday’s Baylor-Notre Dame Women’s NCAA Tournament national championship earned a 2.1 rating and 3.69 million viewers on ESPN, up a tick in ratings and 4% in viewership from Notre Dame-Mississippi State last year (2.0, 3.54M), and down 9% and 4% respectively from South Carolina-Mississippi State in 2017 (2.3, 3.83M).
Ratings and viewership were the third-best for the title game since 2012, when the same Baylor-Notre Dame matchup drew a 2.7 and 4.24 million. Notre Dame-Mississippi State in ’17 and UConn-Notre Dame in 2014 (2.8, 4.27M) hold the top spots over that span.
Overall, the Bears’ win ranks 13th in viewership out of the 24 national title games that have aired on ESPN (dates back to 1996).
The game peaked with 5.60 million viewers from 8-8:15 PM ET.
Shifting to last Friday’s national semifinals, Notre Dame-UConn earned a 1.4 and 2.14 million on ESPN2 — flat in ratings and down 6% in viewership from the same matchup last year (1.4, 2.28M) and down 22% and 23% respectively from 2017 (Mississippi State-UConn: 1.75, 2.76M).
Notre Dame’s comeback win was the least-watched late semifinal game since Syracuse-Washington in 2016 (1.60M), and the second-least watched since at least 2007. It also tied the lowest rating in the window since Syracuse-Washington (1.0), and the second-lowest since at least 1999.
Earlier in the night, Baylor-Oregon had a 0.9 (flat) and 1.49 million (-2%), ranking as the least-watched Women’s Final Four game in any timeslot since at least ’07. It also tied the lowest rating since at least 1999.
Prior to 2016, the national semifinals aired on ESPN, rather than ESPN2.
The full Women’s Final Four averaged 2.48 million viewers. ESPN said in a press release that the average was up from last year, but did not disclose the percentage.
