As the women’s basketball March Madness tournament begins play today, there is concern about whether viewership and attendance trends will be able to match last year’s explosion without former stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, as well as the other 2024 WNBA rookie class members.
Although there could be a slight dip in viewership trends as last year’s women’s March Madness tournament saw unprecedented numbers, media conglomerates and fans alike should not panic; trends this season demonstrate that last season’s numbers were not a flash in the pan. They signify an escalation in interest and viewership that is sustainable as the popularity of women’s college basketball continues to grow.
In leading up to the 2024 title game, viewership records were shattered as each game advanced closer to the final. The Elite Eight game, a 2023 title game rematch between Iowa and LSU saw 12.3 million viewers, and the Final Four matchup between Iowa and UConn saw 14.2 million viewers.
The 2024 final game between Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes and the South Carolina Gamecocks garnered 18.7 million fans on average and peaked at 24 million on ABC and ESPN. This particular matchup surpassed the previous year’s title game which saw Clark’s Hawkeyes taking on and eventually losing to Reese’s LSU Tigers to an average audience of 9.9 million viewers, which at the time was the most watched women’s basketball game ever. The viewership uptick from 2023 to 2024 was an increase of 89% from the 2023 national title game.
That substantial viewership for the 2024 title game outperformed every men’s college basketball game since the 2019 national championship. Additionally, the 2024 title game surpassed every NBA game since the 2017 NBA Finals, every MLB game since the 2019 World Series, and every NHL game ever. It’s reasonable to believe that these numbers might be impossible to replicate and reach again.
However, data points moving into this 2025 women’s March Madness demonstrate this year has the potential to shatter records once again, even if it does not break the title game record from 2024. For example, last Sunday night’s NCAA Women’s selection special was the second most watched bracket reveal since 2005 with 1.7 million viewers in comparison to 2024’s selection show that saw 1.9 million viewers.
Additionally, the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball regular reason was the most watched regular season in 16 years, up 3% year-to-year, and up 41% from the 2022-2023 season. More specifically, 15 games saw over 500,000 viewers, the most on record. The three most watched games of the regular reason on ESPN saw 1.8 million viewers watch UConn beat South Carolina by a 29-point margin 87-58, followed by 1.7 million viewers watching the Texas Longhorns defeat the LSU Tigers 65-58, and the Gamecocks face off against conference rivals Texas Longhorns to an average of one million viewers. The largest audience of the season actually belonged to Fox, who saw 2.2 million viewers tune in to a primetime matchup between USC and UConn.
The #NCAAWBB season on ESPN platforms saw its MOST-WATCHED regular season in 16 years 📈
🏀 Up 3% YoY & up 41% from ’22-’23 season
🏀 2.9B total minutes consumed
🏀 15 games with over 500K viewers – most on record
🏀 P18-34 up 27% YoY pic.twitter.com/F38OMh53Vp— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) March 10, 2025
In conference tournament play, ESPN averaged 1.3 million for the South Carolina-Texas matchup where the Gamecocks claimed their third SEC tournament title in a row, which only trailed the 2023 SEC tournament title game by 700,000 viewers. The Big Ten tournament championship saw 1.44 million viewers on CBS, peaking at 2.13 million to watch UCLA and USC face off for the third time this season.
Thus, as the tournament starts today and through the weekend, viewership rates will be high but perhaps they will not quite match the rates from 2024’s post-season. But this by no means negates the growth and viewership numbers this March Madness and for what the sport is experiencing overall. With stars and storylines like USC’s JuJu Watkins and her historic sophomore campaign, Paige Bueckers from UConn seeking vindication for a title in her final year, and the stacked South Carolina squad looking for another title, expect attendance and audience numbers to remain strong.