The good times keep on rolling for women’s college basketball.
Sunday’s NCAA Women’s Championship game between the UConn Huskies and South Carolina Gamecocks delivered the third-largest audience in the game’s history. The Huskies’ convincing win averaged 8.5 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, behind only last year’s record-breaking 18.9 million viewers for South Carolina-Iowa and 9.9 million viewers for LSU-Iowa in 2023, both of which featured superstar Caitlin Clark.
Fans tuned in to Sunday’s #NationalChampionship rematch between @UConnWBB & @GamecockWBB 🏆
2025 also marks the second most-consumed #NCAAWBB Tournament on record (8.5B minutes) pic.twitter.com/wipejw7VRo
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 7, 2025
In percentage terms, Sunday’s game was down 55% versus last year’s outlier and 14% versus 2023. However, this year’s audience increased 75% versus 2022 (4.85 million viewers), which also featured a matchup between UConn and South Carolina. That game, which aired in primetime exclusively on ESPN, was the last of which to not feature ABC as the primary broadcaster.
ESPN’s altcast, which featured Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, chipped in 703,000 viewers to this year’s total.
While it’s never ideal to post double-digit declines compared to the previous two years, it’s important to put the growth of the women’s college basketball tournament in perspective. Prior to 2023, the championship game of the women’s tournament had not eclipsed five million viewers since 2004. The game has now blown that figure out of the water for three consecutive years, and this year did so without the blockbuster draw of Caitlin Clark.
ESPN has posted strong viewership throughout the entirety of the women’s college basketball tournament this year. The first and second rounds were the second most-watched on record behind only last year’s tournament, as was the Sweet 16. The Final Four, like Sunday’s championship game, was the third most-watched on record.
The sport seems to be finding its new baseline after the Clark-crazed viewership of the past two years. Per ESPN, the overall audience for this year’s tournament was up 23% versus the 2023 edition, though certainly declined compared to last year. However, almost any comparison to a pre-2023 tournament will look very favorable.
Between a more viewership-friendly Sunday afternoon ABC window and increased interest in the sport in a post-Clark era, the days of sub-five million viewer audiences for the women’s title game seem to be a thing of the past.
