Women’s NCAA Championship Outperforms Men’s in Ratings

The NCAA men’s basketball National Championship saw an uptick in viewership compared to last year’s final game, but for the first time in history, it fell short of the women’s championship, which drew record-breaking viewership on Sunday. Nielsen reported that an average of 14.8 million people tuned in to watch the UConn Huskies defeat the Purdue University Boilermakers 75-60 on Monday night across TNT, TBS, or TruTV. This marked a historic moment as the women’s college basketball championship audience, estimated at 18.7 million on ABC and ESPN, surpassed that of the men’s championship for the first time ever.

Despite not reaching the women’s viewership numbers, the men’s final did see an increase of about 130,000 viewers compared to last year’s championship, where UConn beat San Diego State University 76-59.

In a surprising turn, the women’s championship game between the University of South Carolina and Iowa became the most-watched basketball game of any kind since 2019, including both men’s and women’s games at the professional and college levels. It also became the most-watched spring sporting event in the last five years, excluding football and the Olympics.

In 1997, a record 28,364,000 viewers tuned in to watch the men’s basketball final when the University of Arizona defeated Kentucky. This set the record for the most-watched men’s final dating back to 1995, according to Nielsen.

Not only did the women’s championship surpass the men’s in viewership, but ticket prices for the women’s semifinals and championship games in Cleveland were also reported to be higher than those for the men’s Final Four in Glendale, Arizona. Although ticket prices for the men’s Final Four were the highest recorded by TicketiQ since 2011, they were still approximately $300 lower on average than the women’s.

This year, women’s college basketball experienced unprecedented success, thanks in part to stars like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese, who attracted thousands more fans and viewers to their games. Iowa broke the viewership record for women’s college basketball three times in its last three tournament games, with millions more people tuning in with each game. ESPN announced that this year’s women’s Sweet 16 was the most-watched on record, up 96% from the previous year. Celebrities such as Jason Sudeikis, Darius Rucker, Megan Rapinoe, and Kylie Kelce made appearances at some of the women’s Final Four and championship games, with Sudeikis often sporting a shirt that read “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports.” Additionally, Clark and Iowa sold out at least 11 road games this season and nearly all of its home games in Iowa City, highlighting the growing popularity and success of women’s college basketball.