ESPN’s 2026 Women’s Final Four coverage was second-most-watched ever

Women’s college basketball continues to draw big audiences as the sport cements itself as a dependable ratings-getter, even without a household name involved.

ESPN announced Tuesday that its coverage of the 2026 Women’s Final Four and National Championship was the second-most-watched since it acquired the rights to the tournament in 1996.

Final ’26 #WFinalFour numbers are in!

🏀ESPN’s 2nd most-watched @MarchMadnessWBB Tourney overall, +5% YoY
🏀Sunday = 9.9M viewers, 3rd most-watched Women’s Champ ever
🏀2nd most-watched Final Four on record, avg. 6.7M viewers across 3 games

Full ’25-’26 season viewership Wed pic.twitter.com/zsfaa0H9bd

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 7, 2026

In the Final Four matchups, UCLA’s win over Texas drew 5 million viewers, peaking at 5.2 million. Meanwhile, South Carolina’s win over previously unbeaten UConn drew an average of 5.4 million viewers, peaking at 7.7 million. Together, it made for the second-most-watched National Semifinals.

The national championship, which saw UCLA obliterate South Carolina to win its first title, averaged 9.9 million viewers and peaked at 10.7 million viewers. That’s a 15 percent boost from last year’s title game (UConn-South Carolina) and ESPN’s third-largest audience behind only 2024’s record-breaking South Carolina-Iowa game and 2023’s LSU-Iowa contest, both of which featured Caitlin Clark.

Of course, we’re required by law to note that these ratings are based on Nielsen’s Big Data+Panel national TV measurement, which received accreditation last year, and has boosted ratings across just about every major pro and college sports league this year.

Still, it’s a great sign for the sport that they were able to put up such solid numbers despite the lack of notable superstars and even with lesser-appreciated UCLA in the finals instead of Geno Auriemma’s UConn. The presumption that you need a Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, or Paige Bueckers to draw an audience is fading away (though we’re sure no one will be mad to see more household names emerge).