ESPN is off to a hot start in the women’s college basketball department, albeit behind the Caitlin Clark-fueled numbers the network put up last season.
The first and second rounds of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament posted its second-best audience on-record, trailing only last year’s first round viewership buoyed by the Clark frenzy. Per Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Friday and Saturday coverage across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU averaged 367,000 viewers, down 22% versus last season (471,000 viewers) but up 43% versus 2023 (257,000 viewers).
It should be noted, games that air on ESPNEWS are not measured by Nielsen.
Sunday and Monday’s second round coverage averaged 982,000 viewers across the ESPN family of networks, trailing just last year’s tournament in terms of viewership.
Unsurprisingly, women’s college basketball’s two biggest stars led the way in terms of viewership. UConn’s first round win over Arkansas State, featuring superstar Paige Bueckers, averaged 1.1 million viewers on ABC, the third most-watched first round game on-record, per ESPN PR. Then, the Huskies’ second round win over South Dakota State averaged 1.7 million viewers Monday on ESPN.
USC’s first round win over UNC Greensboro, featuring superstar Juju Watkins, averaged 889,000 viewers on ABC. The Trojans’ second round win over Mississippi State averaged 1.3 million viewers on ESPN.
Unfortunately, the prospects of a future Bueckers vs. Watkins tournament matchup went out the window on Monday when the USC star sustained an ACL tear during the Trojans’ 96-59 victory. The teams could still meet in the Elite Eight if both win their next matchup.
There was no doubt that this year’s tournament would see substantial declines without Caitlin Clark. But the significant increases versus the 2023 tournament certainly demonstrates the growth of women’s college basketball in the post-Clark era.
Per Karp, the first round had 1.2 billion minutes of consumption across all networks, a metric that is also the second-best of all-time behind 2024.
That will likely become a common caveat for ESPN through the rest of this year’s tournament.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.