As the women’s basketball March Madness tournament kicks off today, there are concerns about whether viewership and attendance can match last year’s remarkable surge, especially in the absence of stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, along with other members of the 2024 WNBA rookie class. However, despite potential fluctuations, media companies and fans shouldn’t be alarmed; the trends indicate that last year’s record numbers were not an anomaly but rather a sustained increase in interest and viewership as women’s college basketball continues to gain popularity.
Leading up to the 2024 title game, viewership records were shattered with every game inching closer to the final. The rematch between Iowa and LSU in the Elite Eight drew 12.3 million viewers, while the Final Four showdown between Iowa and UConn attracted an audience of 14.2 million. The championship game featuring Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes and the South Carolina Gamecocks averaged 18.7 million viewers, peaking at 24 million on ABC and ESPN. This matchup exceeded the previous title game, where Clark’s Hawkeyes faced Reese’s LSU Tigers, which averaged 9.9 million viewers—previously the highest-ever for a women’s basketball game—resulting in an impressive 89% increase from 2023.
The 2024 title game’s substantial viewership outperformed every men’s college basketball game since the 2019 national championship and surpassed all NBA games since the 2017 Finals, as well as every MLB match since the 2019 World Series and all NHL games ever. While replicating these figures may seem challenging, the data for the upcoming 2025 women’s March Madness indicates potential for record-breaking viewership once again, even if it may not surpass 2024’s title game ratings. For instance, last Sunday’s NCAA Women’s selection special attracted 1.7 million viewers, making it the second most-watched bracket reveal since 2005, only slightly trailing 2024’s selection show with 1.9 million viewers.
Moreover, the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball regular season experienced its highest viewership in 16 years, increasing 3% compared to last year and 41% from the 2022-2023 season. Notably, 15 games surpassed 500,000 viewers, a record high. The three most viewed regular season games on ESPN featured 1.8 million viewers for UConn’s significant win over South Carolina, alongside 1.7 million viewers for Texas Longhorns’ victory over LSU, and an average of one million viewers for the Gamecocks facing Texas. Fox recorded the largest audience of the season, with 2.2 million viewers tuning in for a primetime matchup between USC and UConn.
The #NCAAWBB season on ESPN platforms saw its MOST-WATCHED regular season in 16 years 📈
🏀 Up 3% YoY & up 41% from ’22-’23 season
🏀 2.9B total minutes consumed
🏀 15 games with over 500K viewers – most on record
🏀 P18-34 up 27% YoY pic.twitter.com/F38OMh53Vp— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) March 10, 2025
In conference tournament play, ESPN averaged 1.3 million viewers for the South Carolina-Texas matchup, where the Gamecocks secured their third consecutive SEC tournament title—just trailing the 2023 SEC championship game by 700,000 viewers. The Big Ten tournament championship garnered 1.44 million viewers on CBS, peaking at 2.13 million as UCLA and USC faced off for the third time this season.
As the tournament unfolds this weekend, viewership may be high, but it might not quite reach the remarkable levels seen in 2024’s post-season. Nonetheless, this does not diminish the growth in viewership in March Madness and what the sport as a whole is experiencing. With compelling storylines featuring stars like USC’s JuJu Watkins, aiming for a historic sophomore campaign, and Paige Bueckers from UConn looking for redemption in her final year, alongside a formidable South Carolina squad chasing another title, strong attendance and audience numbers are anticipated.
