South Carolina-Iowa averages 18.7 million viewers, most-watched basketball game since 2019

To the surprise of no one, Sunday’s South Carolina-Iowa National Championship game averaged a record amount of viewers for a women’s college basketball game.

The average viewership for the game was 18.7 million viewers, peaking at 24 million, on ABC and ESPN.

Beyond that, it was also the most-watched basketball game, with no distinction between college or professional, men’s or women’s, since 2019.

https://twitter.com/ESPNPR/status/1777436706045600197

The Gamecocks’ win was also the most-watched sporting event (in English), outside of the Olympics and football, since 2019.

This year’s title game increased 89% from last year’s LSU-Iowa matchup, which averaged 9.9 million viewers and was at the time the most-watched women’s college basketball game ever.

But since that game, women’s college basketball has been on fire. Multiple networks drew record audiences for games (with Clark and Iowa prominently spotlighted), and viewership has continued spiking during the NCAA Tournament. Iowa’s first-round win over Holy Cross averaged 3.23 million viewers, a record for the first round. Their second-round win over West Virginia averaged 4.9 million viewers, another record for the round. Records continue to fall in the Sweet 16 (6.87 million viewers vs Colorado), Elite 8 (12.3 million vs LSU), and Final Four (14.2 million vs UConn), peaking on Sunday with the record audience for the Hawkeyes’ loss to the Gamecocks.

For extra context, the South Carolina-Iowa game averaged more viewers than all of the following:

• Every men’s college basketball game since the 2019 National Championship between Virginia and Texas Tech
• Every NBA game since the 2017 NBA Finals
• Every MLB game since the 2019 World Series
• Every NHL game ever (American audiences only)

All in all, that seems pretty good. ESPN’s new contract with the NCAA for dozens of championship events, including the women’s basketball tournament, begins this summer. Based on the viewership figures seen from this year’s tournament, it’s already looking like a bargain.

[ESPN]