A record-setting NCAA women’s basketball tournament did not just set a new viewership record Sunday, it obliterated the previous ESPN-era high.
Sunday’s LSU-Iowa NCAA women’s basketball national championship game averaged 9.9 million viewers on ABC and ESPN2, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 103% from South Carolina-UConn on ESPN and ESPN2 last year (4.85M) and easily the most-watched title game in the history of the women’s tournament (records date back to 1992).
The Tigers’ win, which peaked with 12.6 million viewers, easily outdrew the previous tournament record of 8.1 million for a Virginia-Stanford national semifinal on CBS in 1992. It was the first women’s title game on broadcast television since 1995, when CBS drew 7.44 million for UConn-Tennessee.
Viewership cruised past the previous ESPN-era record, 5.68 million for the UConn-Oklahoma final in 2002. (As with all multi-year highs, keep in mind viewership includes out-of-home viewing, which was not included in Nielsen estimates prior to three years ago.)
NCAA women’s basketball championship audience, 1995-present
Not counting the Saturday’s national semifinals — figures for which are not immediately available — the title game outdrew all-but-two games of the ongoing men’s basketball tournament. Miami-Texas in the Elite Eight averaged 11.30 million and Michigan State-Marquette in the second round drew 10.91 million.
Sunday’s audience matched or exceeded every game of last year’s NBA Playoffs except for the NBA Finals (Game 7 of the Celtics-Heat Eastern Conference Finals also averaged 9.9 million) and topped every game of last year’s Major League Baseball Postseason except for the World Series, every NASCAR race since 2017 (including the Daytona 500) and every NHL game in more than 50 years (including the Stanley Cup Final).
Only 11 college football games averaged a larger audience during last season, including the playoff. The Rose Bowl had only slightly more viewers at 10.19 million.
(Nielsen estimates from ESPN)
