NCAA Men’s Rankings: NCAA Men’s Finals Increase Through 2023, But NCAA Women’s Finals Overtake Men’s Championship for First Time in History

South Carolina’s 87-75 victory over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the NCAA women’s championship has achieved a pair of milestones.

It is the first time that the women’s title match surpasses 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 on TBS and TNT averaged of 14.82 million.

Viewership for Sunday’s game, where the Gamecocks capped an undefeated season by winning their fourth national title and denied Clark’s Hawkeyes their first, peaked at 24.1 million over the final 15 minutes. The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup final between the United States and Japan averaged 25.4 million on Fox. That was also on a Sunday and took place in prime time on the East Coast.

“You’re seeing growth in a lot of places: attendance records, viewership and social media engagement around March Madness,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I don’t think it can be attributed to just Iowa, though. A rising tide lifts all boats. But I think all of those boats have been in a lot of different waterways. The product is really good and the increase in exposure is every ever greater”. rewarded.”

Nielsen’s figures include an estimate of the number of people who watched outside their homes, which was not measured before 2020. Due to cord cutting, in-home viewing has steadily declined annually.

Viewership 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 broadcast on television.

“I hadn’t watched it (women’s basketball) much before this year. I didn’t do it on television. This year, it was on television,” said former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson, who now runs his own sports consulting firm. sports television. . “That’s what happened when you look at those numbers. There were a lot of people taking notes to sit and watch the games.”

During the Final Four, Clark said viewership growth was benefiting all women’s sports, not just basketball.

“I think you see it across the board, whether it’s softball, gymnastics or volleyball. People want to watch it. Just when given the opportunity, research and facts show that people love it,” she said.

Iowa’s six NCAA Tournament games broadcast on ESPN and ABC averaged 10.07 million.

However, as Clark heads to the WNBA, many wonder if the college game can continue to attract large audiences.

Clark was the star player of March Madness, but there was an impressive group of freshmen, led 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.

“There are also some great freshmen coming into the game next year that I think will have a tremendous impact. As long as we keep telling the story, there is still room to grow the game,” Close said.

It also helped that women’s soccer got more exposure during the regular season on network television.

Fox aired 14 women’s games this season, including three in prime time, NBC had two and CBS had the Big Ten tournament championship. ABC had five regular season games and nine during the NCAA Tournament.

Fox has announced the Women’s Champions Classic for next season on December 7. The primetime doubleheader will feature UConn, Iowa, Louisville and Tennessee.

Pilson believes this year’s tournament has paved the way for further growth. Perhaps not to the level seen among Clark’s followers.

“I wouldn’t call it a problem because I think women’s football will definitely improve from ratings and exposure from now on,” she said. “Broadcasts and major cable sports channels can still provide viewership. Midseason coverage tends to focus on teams and personalities to raise public awareness of athletes. But the game has improved over the past five years. “It’s gotten faster and more competitive. I also think they’ve learned from the NBA and the NFL about how to promote their stars.”

Most audiences during March Madness also tuned in before and after the Iowa games.

UConn’s 80-73 win over Southern California in the Elite Eight on April 1, which began 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 television networks has also benefited women’s soccer. UConn’s win over Tennessee in 1995 averaged 7.44 million on CBS. Despite ESPN’s work to grow the tournament since acquiring the rights in 1996, the closest the network came to that number for the finals was in 2002, when 5.68 million 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 missed something.’ I don’t think they want to fail anymore,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said during the Final Four. “Caitlin certainly has been a tremendous star for our game, but there are a lot of stars in our game. “So we’re going to hold on to that one next year.”