NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Game Audience Peaked ...

CLEVELAND, OHIO - APRIL 07: Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks reacts in the ... [+] first half during the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament National Championship game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on April 07, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

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The NCAA Division One Women’s Basketball Tournament set viewing records across all six rounds, including the NCAA championship game (South Carolina vs. Iowa) which averaged 18.7 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, an 89% increase from last year’s championship game.

With the audience peaking at 24 million viewers, it was the most watched women’s basketball game of all-time and the most-watched basketball game (men's or women's, college or pro) since 2019. The audience was greater than many recent top tier live sporting events including every game of the 2023 World Series and 2023 NBA Finals as well as last year’s men’s NCAA Basketball championship game.

The 2024 final game marked the end of the highest rated women’s March Madness to date, shattering the viewership of any previous tournament.

Behind the viewing records were a number of outstanding players led by Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, the two-time College Player of the Year, the all-time leading scorer (men’s or women’s) in Division One history and the career leading scorer in NCAA March Madness history (men’s and women’s). Among the other standout players helping to boost viewer interest included LSU’s Angel Reese, UConn’s Paige Bueckers; USC’s JuJu Watkins and the undefeated and tournament champion South Carolina Gamecocks with Kamilla Cardoso, the defensive player of the year.

Building on last year’s tournament ratings, the 2024 women’s tournament generated record viewing across all six rounds on ABC and the ESPN Networks, led by Iowa and Caitlin Clark. The Iowa Hawkeyes have now played in the three most watched NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament games all taking place this month.

Here is a summary of the audience delivery of every other round of the women’s tournament in general and Iowa in particular.

Opening Round

Iowa’s opening round victory against Holy Cross averaged 3.2 million viewers on ABC. It was the largest viewing of any non-Final Four women’s tournament game.to date, the previous high had been set last year when 2.5 million viewers watched an Elite Eight game between Iowa and Louisville.

Previously, the most watched opening round game was in 2022 (UConn vs. Mercer) with an average 767,000 viewers.

Second Round

Two days later, Iowa’s second round game versus West Virginia generated an average audience of 4.9 million viewers on ESPN. The game was the third most watched women’s tournament game in the past two decades, surpassed only by last year’s Final Four game (Iowa vs. South Carolina) with an average audience of 5.6 million and last year’s championship game (LSU vs. Iowa) with an average 9.9 million viewers.

There were two other second round games that delivered an average audience above two million viewers, UConn vs. Syracuse (2.05 million) and LSU vs. Middle Tennessee (2.01 million). Through the first two rounds, the audience delivery for all 48 games averaged 812,000 viewers, 108% higher than in 2023.

Sweet 16

The round of Sweet 16 began the following weekend. Led, once again by Iowa, the women’s Sweet 16 had collectively averaged 2.4 million viewers, a year-over-year increase of 96%. Iowa’s victory over Colorado set another audience record averaging 6.9 million viewers on ABC.

At the time, the game ranked second behind last year’s national championship game as the most watched women’s college basketball game since 1995. The LSU-UCLA game averaged 3.8 million viewers, making it the second highest audience for any women’s Sweet 16 game.

Through the first three rounds, the women’s tournament is averaging 1.1 million viewers, a year-over-year increase of 104%.

Elite Eight

Moving on to the Elite Eight, viewing continued to soar. None of the four games were higher rated than the highly anticipated rematch from last year’s record setting national championship game (Iowa vs. LSU). The hyped-up game did not disappoint. Iowa’s victory over LSU averaged 12.3 million viewers on ESPN.

The rematch easily outpaced last year’s championship game in becoming the most watched women’s college basketball game to date. The previous high had been set in the 1983 national championship game (USC vs. Louisiana Tech) which averaged 11.8 million viewers on CBS.

The Iowa-LSU game was followed by another star-studded matchup (UConn vs. USC.) The nightcap averaged 6.7 million viewers. On the day prior, the South Carolina and Oregon State game averaged 3.1 million viewers, setting an Elite Eight audience record that stood for one day. The second game (NC State vs. Texas) averaged 2.5 million viewers, the lowest rated Elite Eight game this year.

In total, the four Elite Eight games averaged 6.2 million viewers, an increase of 184% from last year. In addition, all four games now rank among the five most watched Elite Eight telecasts.

ALBANY, NEW YORK - APRIL 01: Mikaylah Williams #12 of the LSU Tigers and Caitlin Clark #22 of the ... [+] Iowa Hawkeyes fight for the ball during the second half in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at MVP Arena on April 01, 2024 in Albany, New York. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

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No surprise, the two Final Four games also set a viewing record. The marquee matchup was Iowa vs. UConn. As with every other game with Iowa and Caitlin Clark, a ratings record was set. Iowa’s victory averaged 14.2 million viewers, the most watched women’s basketball game to date as well as the most watched basketball game ever (including the NBA playoffs) on ESPN.

Heading into the championship game all five tournament games with Iowa and its once in a generation player Caitlin Clark have averaged an astounding 8.3 million viewers on ESPN and ABC. The audience for tournament games that did not involve Iowa grew year-over-year by 74%.

The earlier game featuring top ranked South Carolina and NC State averaged 7.1 million. This became the third most watched “Final Four” game since at least 1993. Combined, the two games averaged 10.8 million viewers, a year-over-year increase of 138%.

Six Most Watched Women’s March Madness Games Source: Sports Media Watch, Nielsen 2024 Final - S Car-Iowa: 18.7 million (ABC) 2024 Final Four - Iowa-UConn: 14.2 million (ESPN) 2024 Elite Eight - Iowa-LSU: 12.3 million (ESPN) 1983 Final - USC-La. Tech: 11.8 million (CBS) 1986 Final - Texas-USC: 11.2 million (CBS) 2023 Final - LSU-Iowa: 9.9 million (ABC)

Building from last year’s success, the NCAA women’s tournament basketball with growing fan interest caught the eye of media and advertisers. Last January, Disney and the NCAA concluded a multi-year, media rights agreement encompassing 40 sports.

The NCAA women’s basketball tournament was valued at $65 million per annum, a tenfold increase from the previous agreement. (By comparison, the media rights for the men’s tournament on CBS and TNT Sports is $920 million per annum.)

With advertisers starting to inquire about this year’s tournament as early as last May, Disney sold out all of its in-game commercial inventory weeks ahead of the Final Four and championship game. With strong demand from marketers, Disney said they had 87 total brands advertising, including 42 first time marketers including Adidas, Honda, Google GOOG and Home Depot. New product categories included bottled water and home insurance.

Also, several brands including Adidas and Ally Financial ALLY invested more ad dollars on the women’s tournament than the men’s. Moreover, long-time “March Madness” advertiser Coca-Cola KO ramped up their ad commitment to the women’s tournament touting Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. It’s estimated this year advertisers had invested over $25 million in the women’s tournament, up from $19.4 million last year.

“This is a defining moment for all college sports. The 2024 NCAA tournament has proven through record viewership that the nation is captivated by strong players and exciting games, regardless of gender,” said Danielle DeLauro, Executive Vice President, Video Advertising Bureau. “After years of being underestimated for their revenue generating potential, a few bold advertisers were the first to support women’s basketball, helping thrust the game and its athletes into the spotlight. We are excited for that same leap of faith with the next college sport.”

College basketball is not the only women’s sport growing in popularity such as the WNBA and soccer’s NWSL, both have been benefiting from new media rights agreements and increased coverage.

Last month, WPP’s GroupM, the largest media ad buying company, announced its commitment to women’s sports. GroupM has recommended to their clients that they double their ad commitment to women’s sports.

Moreover, GroupM will create a dedicated ad marketplace for women’s sports. These announcements come a few months ahead of the 2024-25 advertising upfronts.

About next year’s women’s tournament Adidas SVP of Brand Marketing Chris Murphy told Marketing Brew, “Would we invest next year? Yes. Will we invest in ’26? Probably. I can see us continuing to invest in this space as you see women’s basketball continue to grow. I don’t think the interest in it is going to wane. I think it’s only going to continue.”

As Caitlin Clark, Angel Reece, Kamilla Cardoso among other notables join the WNBA, they have achieved their goal of popularizing women’s basketball. Clark, Reece and Cardoso were building on the legacies of such standout players as Cheryl Miller, Sheryl Swoopes, Candace Parker and Breanna Stewart to name a few.

Despite their departures, returning in 2024-25 will be such already accomplished players as UConn’s Paige Bueckers, College Player of the Year in 2021. Also returning will be USC’s JuJu Watkins, who in 2023-24 set a Division One freshman scoring record.