The 2024 women’s NCAA tournament captivated audiences across America, and Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes are led the charge. Iowa has helped shatter TV ratings records on their way to the national championship game, and the numbers are staggering even compared to the top championship games in professional men’s sports.
Iowa women’s basketball TV ratings smashed records, and the numbers are staggering
The most watched basketball game since 2019 — men’s or women’s, college or pro — was Iowa vs. South Carolina for the 2024 women’s national championship.
Photo by Thien-An Truong/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
South Carolina defeated Iowa, 87-75, in the national championship game. The TV ratings were gigantic: 18.7 million viewers on average, with a peak of 24 million. It was the most watched basketball game — college or pro, men’s or women’s — since 2019.
Iowa’s win over LSU in the Elite Eight drew 12.3 million viewers, making it one of the most watched games of the past year excluding the NFL. There was a natural built-in storyline after LSU beat Iowa in the national championship game a year ago, and viewers flocked to their TVs to see if Clark and Co. could get redemption. Somehow, Iowa’s next game against the UConn Huskies drew even more viewers.
With Clark and UConn guard Paige Bueckers facing off for a superstar showdown, the Hawkeyes vs. the Huskies put up numbers that topped every NBA Finals and World Series game from last year. The game averaged 14.2 million viewers, and peaked at 17 million, according to Richard Deitsch with The Athletic.
Iowa beat UConn, 71-69, on a controversial ending that continued to make the game the talk of the sports world all weekend. On the Huskies final possession, big Aaliyah Edwards was called for a moving screen that effectively ended the game. There were immediately allegations that the game was rigged for Iowa, but closer looks at the play have proven it was the correct call. If anything, the refs should be lauded for making such a difficult call in that situation.
Iowa now faces an undefeated South Carolina team for the national championship. The Hawkeyes beat South Carolina in the Final Four last season before their eventual loss to LSU. This Gamecocks team is bigger and better. South Carolina enters the game as a 6.5 point favorite.
It’s not just Iowa that’s drawing ratings. The UConn vs. USC Elite Eight game drew 6.7 million viewers with a 10.4 million peak, according to The Athletic. South Carolina’s destruction of NC State averaged 7.1 million viewers, per ESPN, third-most-watched women’s Final Four game since 1992.
Iowa women’s basketball has never won a national championship, but Clark certainly grew the game with her massive stardom. What a college career for an all-time legend.
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