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Caitlin Clark and others had a blast on ESPN on Friday, with record viewers tuning in to the Final Four game that led the University of Iowa to Sunday’s national championship berth.
ESPN’s nightly telecast of the UW-Iowa showdown drew 14.2 million viewers, a new high for a women’s college basketball game, ESPN announced, citing Nielsen data. It became a record. The game, which ended 71-69, was a close one-point difference until the final seconds. This attendance surpassed the short-term viewership record for a women’s college basketball game of 12.3 million viewers set for the University of Iowa’s win over LSU in an Elite Eight game on April 1st.
Early Friday morning, the University of South Carolina defeated North Carolina State to secure a berth in the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game. ESPN’s evening telecast of the game averaged 7.1 million viewers.
ESPN reported that UConn-Iowa’s viewership reached a peak of 17 million viewers. The game between North Carolina State and South Carolina had a peak audience of 9 million viewers. In the adults 18-49 demo, the two games averaged 3.1 million viewers combined, a 130% increase from last year’s Women’s Final Four game.
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The NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament has garnered unprecedented national attention this year, dwarfing the attention paid to the men’s field. Clark’s record-breaking run over the past year continues with everyone from LSU’s Angel Reese to UW’s Paige Backers, University of Southern California’s star freshman JuJu Watkins and University of South Carolina’s Camila Cardoso competing in this year’s tournament. This contributed to attracting attention to the overwhelming number of star players who played in the tournament. Clark, Reese and Cardoso, who last month became the highest-scoring basketball players in NCAA history for both men and women, announced their intention to compete in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
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