Friday night’s clash between Iowa and UConn in the women’s Final Four set a new milestone, drawing an impressive average of 14.2 million viewers on ESPN.
This remarkable viewership not only solidified it as the most-watched women’s basketball game ever recorded but also marked the largest audience for any ESPN basketball broadcast to date.
Surpassing the previous record set by the Iowa-LSU game in the Elite Eight just days prior, which garnered 12.3 million viewers, this matchup now stands as a monumental moment in sports broadcasting. In fact, it even eclipsed the viewership of Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference finals between Cleveland and Boston, ESPN’s former most-watched basketball game, which drew 13.51 million viewers.
The extraordinary viewership of the Hawkeyes’ game, reaching a peak of 17 million, positions it as one of the most-watched sporting events in recent years, rivaling even college football and NFL broadcasts. For perspective, last year’s NCAA men’s title game between San Diego State and UConn attracted an average of 14.79 million viewers.
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With its massive audience, the Iowa-UConn showdown is poised to rank among the top 50 primetime telecasts of 2024, a feat that would have placed it at 32nd on the list from the previous year.
Additionally, this game marks ESPN’s second-highest audience for a non-football broadcast, trailing only behind the United States-Portugal match during the 2014 men’s World Cup, which averaged 18.22 million viewers.
In the realm of NBA broadcasts, the last game to reach the 14-million-viewer mark was the Golden State Warriors’ title-clinching victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals, which drew 14.22 million viewers.
Meanwhile, Clark’s five March Madness games on ESPN and ABC have collectively averaged 8.3 million viewers. Iowa’s journey will culminate in a championship showdown against South Carolina on Sunday afternoon, airing on ABC.
In the other semifinal matchup, South Carolina’s dominant 78-59 victory over North Carolina State captivated an average of 7.1 million viewers, marking it as the third most-watched women’s national semifinal since records began in 1992. The previous record was held by the Stanford vs. Virginia matchup in 1992, which drew 8.1 million viewers.
Combined, Friday’s two games averaged an impressive 10.8 million viewers, representing a staggering 138% increase over viewership from the previous year.
