South Carolina’s victory over Iowa in March Madness again breaks the viewership record with 18.7 million
- The game peaked at 24 million viewers, while South Carolina remained undefeated all season
- Clark now moves to the WNBA after back-to-back NCAA championship games
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South Carolina’s NCAA championship win over Iowa shattered viewership records last weekend, as 18.7 million people tuned in to watch the Gamecocks’ revenge win against Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes, making it ESPN’s most-watched basketball game – college or pro, men’s or women’s – since 2019.
Sunday’s high-profile game in Cleveland, Ohio, undoubtedly set new marks within and beyond women’s basketball, as it was also the most-watched sporting event outside of the Olympics and football since 2019.
The game peaked at 24 million viewers as the Gamecocks capped an undefeated season with an 87-75 victory over Clark and her teammates.
‘18.7 MILLION’ Clark shared a fire emoji on X on Monday, despite being on the losing side of consecutive NCAA championship games.
It was the third straight Iowa game to break TV ratings for women’s college hoops.
Iowa’s loss to South Carolina in the NCAA title game topped every NBA Finals game since Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers
Caitlin Clark responded to Monday’s news by tweeting the viewership count with a fire emoji
South Carolina’s revenge victory against Clark and co. also marked the third straight Iowa game to break TV ratings records for women’s college hoops
The Hawkeyes’ Elite Eight victory over LSU was a rematch of last year’s title game that drew a then-record 9.9 million viewers.
The rematch attracted 12.3 million viewers.
Then came Friday night’s Final Four meeting with blueblood UCoon. That match raised the record to 14.2 million.
Iowa’s Elite Eight win against LSU — a rematch of last year’s championship game — drew a then-record 9.9 million viewers earlier in the NCAA Tournament
Viewership for South Carolina-Iowa also topped every World Series game since Game 7 of the 2019 World Series; every NBA Finals game since Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals; every Dayton 500 since 2006 and every Masters final viewing round since 2001.
More people also watched this year’s NCAA title game than all but four college football games in 2023.
Clark is now moving to the WNBA — the league’s draft is April 15 — and her departure will raise many questions about whether these new NCAA Tournament viewership records will hold up in next year’s edition of March Madness.
That depends in part on the potential increased investment from ESPN and Fox Sports and whether both networks will continue to do what they did this year and into 2023 by programming women’s basketball on Big Fox.