Women’s March Madness breaks record-setting start thanks to Iowa
- It surpassed the 2.5 million who watched last year’s Iowa-Louisville, Elite Eight game
- Attendance at this year’s first and second round matches increased by 60,779
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A record 292,456 fans attended the opening rounds of this year’s Women’s March – the most in tournament history – according to official website of NCAA.
That’s an increase of 60,779 fans compared to attendance during the first two rounds of last year’s tournament, when a record 231,677 fans showed up.
Iowa City topped all hosting sites, welcoming a sellout crowd totaling 28,764 fans for the first two rounds, marking three consecutive years of sellouts at Carver Hawkeye Arena, with Caitlin Clark leading the way.
Attendance at the opening rounds also pushed the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship’s all-time attendance figure above 9 million, with 9,290,650 fans in attendance during the championship’s 41-plus years.
The ratings for Women’s March Madness have also skyrocketed. The Hawkeyes’ 91-65 win over Holy Cross averaged 3.23 million viewers on ABC on Saturday, according to Nielsen. The viewership surpassed the 2.50 million who watched last year’s Elite Eight game between Iowa and Louisville, making it the most-watched women’s tournament game ever – excluding Final Four games and title games.
Iowa City topped all hosting sites for opening round games, welcoming a sellout crowd of 28,000
Defending champion LSU’s win over Rice on Friday was the most-watched weekday first-round game ever, with 762,400 fans tuning in to ESPN’s broadcast of the game
It was the third Iowa game this season with an average viewership of more than 3 million.
Of the seven Iowa games on network television – ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox – an average of 2.27 million have been played. Iowa’s Sweet 16 game against Colorado on Saturday will be on ABC.
According to ESPN, a total of 1.5 billion minutes were watched across television and streaming platforms during the first round. That is the highest number ever recorded in the history of women’s tournaments and an increase of 70 percent compared to last year.
Connecticut’s game against Jackson State, which preceded the Iowa game, averaged 1.1 million on ABC, the third most-watched first-round game ever.
Defending champion LSU’s win over Rice on Friday averaged 762,400 on ESPN, making it the most-watched weekday first-round game ever.