On Wednesday, ESPN outlined the full scale of its record-setting 2024 NCAA Women’s Tournament, which featured all-time recorded viewership highs for the second round through the national championship.
Every round of the tournament increased, beginning with the First Four. That round averaged 184,000 viewers, a 24% increase from a year ago. The first round averaged 1.4 million viewers, an 83% increase and its best mark since 2009. Holy Cross vs Iowam led the second round, which had a record 3.2 million viewers.
From the second round on, each round was its most-watched on record.
The second round averaged 1.4 million viewers, a 121% increase from 2023. Iowa’s win over West Virginia averaged a record 4.9 million viewers, with three more games (Syracuse-UConn, Middle Tennessee-LSU, Kansas-USC) surpassing every second-round game other than Iowa-West Virginia.
In the Sweet 16, the round averaged 2.4 million viewers, up 96% from last year. Iowa-Colorado led the way with 6.9 million viewers (another record), and three more Sweet 16 games ranked in the top five most-watched ever in the round.
Moving on to the Elite Eight, the round averaged 6.2 million viewers, a stunning 184% spike from 2023. Iowa-LSU averaged 12.3 million viewers, which was then the most-watched college basketball game ever on ESPN’s platforms. The four Elite Eight games all rank in the top five for the most-watched games ever in the round.
In the Final Four, the two national semifinals averaged 11.0 million viewers, featuring (another) record for Iowa-UConn with 14.4 million viewers.
The cherry on top was the South Carolina-Iowa title game, which averaged 18.9 million viewers and ranks as the most-watched women’s college basketball game ever, the most-watched college basketball game on record airing on an ESPN platform, and the most-watched basketball game (college or pro) since 2017. It’s also the most-watched English language sporting event, excluding football or the Olympics, since 2019.
The tournament averaged 2.2 million viewers per game, a 121% increase from last year and the most-watched tournament since ESPN took control of the rights in 1996. The viewership surge wasn’t just an Iowa thing, either — ESPN’s release notes that viewership for non-Iowa games increased by an impressive 76% from 2023.
By any definition, the 2024 women’s tournament was an incredible success for ESPN and the sport as a whole.
[ESPN]
