A matchup between two of the highest profile women’s college basketball players this season delivered in a big way.
Saturday’s game between the USC Trojans and UConn Huskies, featuring stars JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers, averaged 2.23 million viewers at 8:00 p.m. ET on Fox. The game, which is probably the most attractive women’s college basketball matchup on paper this season, was given an NFL lead-in as Fox aired the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens game at 4:30 p.m. ET.
According to Fox Sports PR, the game ranked as the second most-watched women’s college basketball game ever for the network, and is the most-watched women’s college basketball game on any network this season. The most-watched women’s college basketball game in Fox’s history unsurprisingly happened last season, when Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes beat Ohio State in March. That game averaged 3.39 million viewers.
USC’s narrow 72-70 victory over UConn scored 2,227,000 viewers on FOX 🏀
– Second most-watched WCBB game ever on FOX
– Most-watched WCBB game on any net this season
– Peaked at 3,764,000 viewers from 8 to 8:15 PM ET pic.twitter.com/BGD0vWmuW3— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) December 24, 2024
The game also becomes the second most-watched college basketball contest so far this season — men’s or women’s. The Trojans’ narrow victory falls only behind an Illinois-Arkansas men’s college basketball game on CBS which drew 5.1 million viewers in the lead-out of the network’s Thanksgiving NFL game.
Notably, while the game did receive a nice NFL lead-in, it still competed directly with the Tennessee-Ohio State College Football Playoff game on ESPN and ABC.
Given that Saturday’s game featured two of the largest stars in women’s college basketball, it should come as no surprise that the viewership was so strong. However, it’s also a testament to the strength of the sport overall in the post-Clark era. Women’s college basketball still has brand name attractions that people will tune in to watch.
Not all the viewership data paints a rosy picture, however. According to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, as of December 17th women’s college basketball was down 38% year-over-year. No doubt the absence of Clark is hurting those comparisons. But Saturday’s game shows that, at least at the high end, women’s hoops can draw comparable audiences for big games, even without Clark.
[Fox Sports PR]
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.