The Iowa – LSU clash will have kept its promises on all levels. Announced as one of the matches of the year, the rematch of last season's NCAA final and the clash between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese offered a great basketball moment and records. With 12.3 million viewers Across the Atlantic, the match broadcast on ESPN quite simply set an audience record for women's basketball. It surpasses a mark established 41 years earlier: the 11.84 million for the 1983 NCAA final between Southern California and Louisiana Tech.
Monday night's rematch between @IowaWBB & @LSUwbkb scores as the MOST-WATCHED WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL GAME ON RECORD
12.3M viewers
Most-watched college basketball game EVER on ESPN platformsMore details to come…#NCAAWBB | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/55FU8C1NwD
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 2, 2024
The show offered by Caitlin Clark with her 41 points to send the Hawkeyes to the Final Four was one of the most followed sporting events of recent months. No baseball game, not even the final game of the World Series, or ice hockey last season brought together so many spectators. The record for a college game broadcast on ESPN, all genres combined, exploded (5.68 million), peaking at 16.1 million spectators. In comparison, the last NBA Finals attracted an average of 11.64 million viewers.
Worn by a new generation of stars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers (Connecticut), Cameron Brink (Stanford), JuJu Watkins (USC) and Kamilla Cardoso (South Carolina), the NCAA women's championship attracts an increasingly larger and ever more loyal audience.
March Madness Sweet 16 games saw viewership increase 96% compared to last season assured ESPN on Tuesday. “ I think it's just great for the sport, to just be able to be a piece of history » said Angel Reese despite the defeat. “ No matter how it ended tonight, I knew it was going to be a night for eternity. And just to be a part of it is fantastic.“
