South Carolina’s 87-75 victory over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the NCAA women’s championship game reached a few milestones.
It is the first time that the women’s title game has outsmarted the men. It was also the second most watched non-Olympic women’s sporting event on American television.
Sunday afternoon’s game averaged 18.9 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, while UConn’s 75-60 win over Purdue in Monday night’s men’s final averaged 14.82 million viewers on TBS and TNT.
The crowd for Sunday’s game — where the Gamecocks capped an undefeated season by winning their fourth national title and denied Clark’s Hawkeyes their first national title — peaked at 80 feet during the final 15 minutes. The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final between the US and Japan averaged 25.4 million on Fox. That was also on a Sunday and took place during prime time on the East Coast.
“You see the growth in a lot of places: attendance, viewership and social media engagement around March Madness,” said UCLA coach Cori Close. “I don’t think you can attribute this solely to Iowa, though. A rising tide lifts all boats. But I think all those boats have been on a lot of different waterways. The product is really good and the greater awareness is rewarded.”
Nielsen’s figures include an estimate of the number of people watching outside their homes, which was not measured before 2020. As a result of cord cutting, the number of viewers at home has steadily declined every year.
The crowd for the national title game was up 90% from last year, when Clark and Iowa fell to LSU. That was also the first time since 1995 that the championship was on network television.
The audience was 289% larger than the number of viewers for the Gamecocks title two years ago, when they defeated UConn on ESPN.
“I hadn’t seen it (women’s basketball) much before this year. I didn’t make it to the television appointment. This year it was appointment television,” said former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson, who now runs his own sports television consulting firm. “That’s what happened when you see those numbers. There were a lot of people taking notes to sit down and watch the games.
During the Final Four, Clark said the audience growth benefited all women’s sports, not just basketball.
“I think you see it across the board, whether it’s softball, whether it’s gymnastics or volleyball. People want to watch. Only when given the opportunity do the research and facts show that people love it,” she said.
Clark and Iowa have the three largest audiences for women’s college basketball. The Hawkeyes’ win over UConn on Friday night averaged 14.2 million, and their April 1 win over LSU in the Elite Eight averaged 12.3 million.
Iowa’s six NCAA Tournament games on ESPN and ABC averaged 10.07 million.
However, as Clark heads to the WNBA, many wonder if the college game can continue to draw large audiences.
Clark was the marquee player of March Madness, but there was an impressive group of freshmen headlined by Southern California’s JuJu Watkins, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and Texas’ Madison Booker. Watkins set the NCAA record for most points by a freshman with 920.
“We also have some great freshmen coming into the game next year that I think will have a huge impact. As long as we keep telling the story, there is still room to grow the game,” Close said.
It also helped that the women’s game received more attention on network television during the regular season.
Fox has 14 women’s games this season, including three in prime time, NBC has two, and CBS had the Big Ten tournament championship. ABC had five regular season games and nine during the NCAA tournament.
Fox announced the Women’s Champions Classic for next season on December 7. The prime-time doubleheader features UConn, Iowa, Louisville and Tennessee.
Pilson believes this year’s tournament has paved the way for further growth. Maybe not at the level you see among Clark’s supporters.
“I wouldn’t call it a blunder because I think the women’s game will definitely improve with the ratings and the exposure here,” he said. “The broadcasting and top sports channels on cable can still provide an audience. Midseason coverage tends to focus on the teams and personalities to make the public aware of the athletes. But the game has improved over the past five years. It has become faster and more competitive. I also think they learned from the NBA and NFL how to promote their stars.”
Most of the crowds during March Madness also watched before and after the Iowa games.
UConn’s 80-73 win over Southern California in the Elite Eight on April 1, which was tipped after the Iowa game, averaged 6.7 million. During the Sweet 16 on March 30, LSU’s win over UCLA, which preceded the Iowa game, averaged 3.8 million.
The return of the championship game to network television has also benefited the women’s game. UConn’s win over Tennessee in 1995 averaged 7.44 million, according to CBS. Despite ESPN’s work to grow the tournament since it acquired the rights in 1996, the closest the network came to that number was for the finals in 2002, when 5.68 million people watched UConn beat Oklahoma.
“I think our game has been good for a long time and I think people have just missed the boat. Now we’ve finally had the exposure and people have understood, ‘Wow, I haven’t watched women’s basketball in a long time, I’ve been missing something.’ I don’t think they want to miss anymore,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said during the Final Four. “Caitlin has certainly been a great star for our game, but there are so many stars in our game. So we will just start working on that next year.”