NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Beat Men's Game In ...

21 day ago

Forbes

Topline

The men’s basketball NCAA National Championship increased its viewership over last year’s final game—but fell short of the women’s championship for the first time ever, after failing to draw in the record-breaking viewership the women’s matchup saw on Sunday.

Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Kate Martin #20 of the Iowa Hawkeyes jump to block a shot ... [+] by Tessa Johnson #5 of the South Carolina Gamecocks during the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament National Championship at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on April 7, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

NCAA Photos via Getty Images Key Facts

An average of 14.8 million people tuned in to watch the UConn Huskies beat the Purdue University Boilermakers 75-60 on Monday night, according to live and same-day viewer data from Nielsen.

The data includes people who watched on either TNT, TBS or TruTV.

This marked the first time in history that the women's college basketball championship audience—which was estimated at 18.7 million on ABC and ESPN—was larger than that of the men's championship, Nielsen said.

Despite not coming close to the women’s viewership, the men’s final did see an increase of about 130,000 viewers compared to last year’s championship in which UConn beat San Diego State University 76-59.

Surprising Fact

The women’s championship game between the University of South Carolina and Iowa was the most-watched basketball game of any kind since 2019—including men’s and women’s games at the pro and college level—and the most-watched spring sporting event in the last five years with the exception of football and the Olympics.

Big Number

28,364,000. That’s how many people tuned in to watch the men’s basketball final in 1997 when the University of Arizona beat Kentucky, setting the record for the most-watched men’s final dating back to 1995, according to Nielsen.

Tangent

Viewership wasn’t the only thing the women’s championship topped the men in. Ticket prices for the women’s semifinals and championship games in Cleveland were reported to be higher than those for the men heading into the Final Four. Ticket prices for the men’s Final Four in Glendale, Arizona, were the highest they’d been since ticket sales company TicketiQ began tracking in 2011, but were still about $300 less on average than the women’s.

Key Background

Women’s college basketball had a season unlike any of its past this year, in large part due to stars like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese who drew thousands more eyeballs and fans to their games. In its last three games of the tournament, Iowa broke the viewership record for women’s college basketball three times, with millions more people watching with each game. Heading into the Final Four, ESPN announced this year’s women’s Sweet 16 was the most watched on record, up 96% from last year. Celebrities including Jason Sudeikas, Hootie and the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker, Megan Rapinoe and Kylie Kelce made appearances at some of the women’s Final Four and championship games, with Sudeikas often sporting a shirt that read “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports.” Earlier in the season, the success went beyond television viewership as Clark—who has been called the best the game has seen—and Iowa sold out at least 11 road games this season and sold out nearly all of its home games in Iowa City.

What To Watch For

How much viewership for the women’s tournament improved overall. ESPN, which aired the women’s tournament, said it will release a “complete look at the viewership records” set during the women’s championship and March Madness on Wednesday.