Fox’s college basketball coverage for the 2023-24 season is done and dusted aside from this week’s Big East Tournament. And with the regular season for both the men’s and women’s games in the books, the network has released some startling viewership statistics.
For the first time, Fox aired the most-watched games of the regular season for both men and women. The most-watched men’s game of the season was the Thanksgiving Day Michigan State-Arizona game, while the most-watched women’s game was last weekend’s Iowa-Ohio State game.
More surprisingly, Fox announced that its broadcasts of women’s games outdrew its broadcast of men’s games this season, with both averaging record-high audiences.
đź’Ą RECORD-SETTING SEASON đź’Ą
🏀 For the first time ever, the most-watched men’s and women’s regular season college hoops games of the season aired on FOX
🏀 Men's and women's hoops had their most-watched regular seasons ever on FOX and FS1 pic.twitter.com/1IxUoKHxZ0
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) March 12, 2024
Fox’s men’s coverage averaged 346,000 viewers, while its women’s coverage averaged 436,000. The men’s broadcasts increased by a modest 16%, while the women’s broadcasts increased by a stunning 66%.
Part of the reason for the massive increase in viewership for women’s games was the shift to broadcast TV. 13 games aired on Fox proper, a record for any broadcast network in a single regular season.
As for the substantial gap between viewership for the men’s and women’s games, quality vs quantity came into play here. Fox aired roughly 50 women’s games this year and nearly six times more men’s games. Most of the women’s games Fox aired across its networks were of a higher quality than the men’s games. It ended up being a smart strategy, reducing the number of unappealing games on the schedule and focusing on better matchups that would receive far more attention.
Anyway, kudos to Fox for giving the women’s game more attention this season. We’ll see how next year goes and whether or not Fox can keep the momentum going.
[Fox]
