Another Iowa women’s basketball game, another new record for the sport in terms of viewership.
Iowa’s 71-69 win over UConn Friday night in Cleveland set a new record for the most-watched women’s college basketball game in history. The game was seen by 14.2 million people and peaked at 17 million viewers. Chad Leistikow of the Des Moines Register was first to report the news.
This game surpasses the previous all-time viewership record, set Monday in Iowa’s win over LSU. attracted an average of 12.3 million viewers and peaked at 16 million viewers.
To put this into perspective. This game is great…
• Every game from last year’s World Series.
• Every game from last year’s NBA Finals.
• Every Daytona 500 since 2013.
• Every audience of the final round of the Masters since 2013.
• All but five CFB games in 2023.– Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) April 6, 2024
Certainly, Iowa wasn’t alone among the viewers. UConn has long been the sport’s standard-bearer, and the Huskies’ victory in Monday’s other Elite Eight game drew 6.7 million viewers, which would have topped all title game viewers since 1996. with the exception of last year’s championship. UConn-USC’s viewership peaked at 10.4 million viewers.
Most in the sports media industry expect Sunday’s title game between undefeated South Carolina and Iowa to set a new all-time record. The only Q is: how high will it be?
Looking at the four possible matchups for the championship games and ranking their viewership potential from highest to lowest, South Carolina vs. Iowa came in at number one. Athleticismthe prediction. Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal said he could see this game reach 18 million viewers while Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch predicted the game would draw 16 to 17 million viewers and surpass the basketball final. men’s varsity ball.
“I think 20 million could be at stake,” Lewis said. “An undefeated team and Caitlin Clark is exactly at that draw level right now.”
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(Photo: Grégory Shamus / Getty Images)