Women’s college basketball had another impressive night on Thursday.
South Carolina’s 76-71 road win over LSU averaged 1.555 million viewers on ESPN, good for the second-most-watched regular season game for the sport since 2010. The lone game ahead of it was Ohio State-Iowa last weekend on NBC.
On an interesting note, the game was the most-watched live sporting event of the day on Thursday. While that may not seem too notable on a somewhat light night that saw just one ranked men’s team play (Arizona lost to Oregon State in a game that aired on the Pac-12 Network), there was an NBA doubleheader on TNT.
South Carolina-LSU handily topped both games. In the early timeslot, Celtics-Heat averaged 1.387 million viewers, while Kings-Warriors averaged a nearly identical 1.385 million.
In addition to the continued growth in women’s college basketball as a sport, I think this also speaks to the growth in certain programs as a draw. Iowa, LSU, and South Carolina have all become pretty strong brands in the women’s game, perhaps helping to draw in viewers who normally might not look twice at a top-ten matchup on a Thursday night.
What other matchups over the next month-plus of the regular season could be strong national draws? The obvious choice is South Carolina-UConn, airing at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN Super Bowl Sunday. That could be a strong piece of counterprogramming for the litany of pregame coverage. UConn hosts Notre Dame in primetime on Fox this Saturday. In a pair of potential top-five matchups, Stanford hosts UCLA at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN2 next Sunday, February 4, while UCLA hosts Colorado on Monday, February 26 on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. ET. Iowa’s rematch with Ohio State airs at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 3 on Fox.
With March Madness less than two months away, the women’s game is flying high, looking for a second year in a row of incredible viewership.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.