More evidence continues to illustrate the commercial appeal of women’s college basketball. This year’s women’s NCAA tournament Selection Show on ESPN attracted an average of 1.7 million viewers, according to ESPN PR, marking the second-largest audience for the women’s Selection Show since 2005, surpassed only by last year’s 1.9 million viewers.
Sunday night’s ‘NCAA Women’s Selection Special presented by Capital One’ was the second MOST-WATCHED since ’05 with 1.7M viewers 👀#NCAAWBB pic.twitter.com/ReMyj9PzyR
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) March 18, 2025
Shattering decades-old viewership records is no longer surprising for women’s college basketball in the post-Caitlin Clark era. This season, ESPN recorded its most-watched women’s college basketball season since 2008-09, with a 3% year-over-year increase in viewership, and an impressive 41% increase compared to two years ago. Overall, 87 games across ESPN’s networks averaged 280,000 viewers, and 15 matchups attracted over 500,000 viewers. ESPN games had an average of 511,000 viewers, while ABC featured three regular season games averaging 1.3 million viewers.
ESPN has also recently announced its broadcasting teams for the upcoming NCAA tournament. The lead announcing team, comprising Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe, will cover games from the Sweet 16 through to the Final Four.
As customary, ESPN will broadcast all 67 games of the tournament, with ABC airing the championship game along with two games from each of the Elite Eight, Sweet 16, second round, and first round. While it may be challenging for this year’s tournament to reach the viewership heights achieved during Clark’s standout performances last year—where the championship game even outperformed the men’s title game—ESPN anticipates another strong ratings season.
