Monday's Iowa-LSU Elite Eight thriller shattered women's college basketball ratings records.
The big picture: ESPN said Tuesday that an average of 12.3 million viewers watched the Hawkeyes defeat LSU 94-87. Viewership peaked at 16.1 million, the network said.
- The match was also ESPN's second-most-watched college basketball game since 2012 and the four Elite Eight games were the most watched on record, the network said.
Monday night's rematch between @IowaWBB & @LSUwbkb scores as the MOST-WATCHED WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL GAME ON RECORD 🤯
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 2, 2024
🏀 12.3M viewers
🏀 Most-watched college basketball game EVER on ESPN platforms
More details to come...#NCAAWBB | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/55FU8C1NwD
Zoom out: Women's college basketball has skyrocketed in popularity and risen in TV ratings in recent years, spurred, in part, by star players like Iowa's Caitlin Clark and LSU's Angel Reese.
- Monday's game was a rematch of the 2023 championship, which held the previous ratings record, averaging around 9.9 million viewers and peaking at 12.6 million viewers.
- "The previous all-time record for any women's basketball game prior to last year's title game was 8.1 million viewers for a Virginia-Stanford national semifinal on CBS in 1992," The Athletic notes.
What's next: Friday's Final Four matches will see South Carolina play NC State at 7 p.m. ET. Iowa and UConn will tip off at 9:30 p.m. ET. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN.
- The NCAA women's championship will be played Sunday, April 7 at 3 p.m. ET. The title match will be broadcast on ABC.
