Iowa’s stunning victory over South Carolina becomes the most-watched women’s college basketball semifinal of ALL TIME as 6.6 million viewers tune in to Caitlin Clark’s stellar performance.
Iowa’s dramatic victory over South Carolina is now the most-watched women’s college basketball semifinal of all time, as 6.6 million viewers tuned in to Caitlin Clark’s 41-point performance.
The Hawkeyes’ 77-73 victory over the defending national champions averaged 5.5 million viewers, according to receiving sports. That’s a staggering 72 percent increase over last year.
What’s more, Friday night’s game also topped the 3.76 million viewers who watched Baylor defeat Stanford in the 2012 Final Four matchup, which was considered the most watched women’s semifinal yet.
The Hawkeyes-Gamecocks showdown peaked at 6.6 million viewers, per Nielsen Fast Nationals.
One of two semifinals this year, with LSU-Virginia Tech being the other, the Iowa-South Carolina ratings went beyond last year’s women’s national championship game between the Gamecocks and Connecticut, which drew an average of 4, 85 million viewers.
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark’s 41-point display against South Carolina peaked at 6.6 million viewers
The Hawkeyes narrowly defeated the Gamecocks, the reigning champions, 77-73 on Friday.
And Clark’s remarkable 41-point display two days ago came close to toppling the two most-watched women’s college basketball games ever.
Both were national title games, not Final Four, with Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, and Swin Cash.
The trio, perhaps the best at the college level in the women’s game, drew 5.7 million viewers when UConn defeated Oklahoma in 2002.
In 2004, Taurasi and her teammates nearly broke that record, when 5.6 million viewers tuned in to the Huskies’ victory over Tennessee in the women’s national championship.
ESPN’s coverage of LSU’s 79-72 win over Virginia Tech also drew a large television audience, averaging 3.4 million viewers, up 57 percent from last year.
This year’s two March Madness semifinals in the NCAA Women’s Tournament are also the two most-watched women’s college basketball games on ESPN+.
LSU and Iowa meet on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET in a game expected to break all streaming records.
Meanwhile, this year’s NCAA women’s college basketball tournament has continued to outperform the men’s version, with tickets to Final Four games costing seven times as much.
LSU’s game against Virginia Tech also drew a large crowd of viewers: 3.4 million on average.