If you’ve been following viewership trends over the past few months, this information probably won’t shock you. If you haven’t, then you should know women’s college basketball has been a hot commodity all season long — and now ESPN has the numbers to prove it.
According to data provided by ESPN, the network’s 2023-24 women’s college basketball regular season saw a 37 percent year-over-year increase in viewership across the network’s platforms.
Across 81 total games, this season was the most-watched regular season on ESPN platforms since 2008-09, with viewers watching more than 2.6 billion total minutes of live women’s college basketball games. This season’s broadcasts averaged 476,000 viewers across games on ESPN and ABC.
In addition, ESPN platforms aired 13 games that surpassed 500,000 viewers during the regular season slate, the most on record in a single season, including two games that received over one million viewers:
| Date | Platform | Game | Viewers |
| Thu, Jan 25 | ESPN | South Carolina vs. LSU | 1.6 million |
| Sun, Feb 11 | ESPN | UConn vs. South Carolina | 1.1 million |
| Sun, Feb 18 | ABC | Georgia vs. South Carolina | 962,000 |
| Thu, Feb 15 | ESPN | South Carolina vs. Tennessee | 705,000 |
| Sun, Mar 3 | ESPN | Tennessee vs. South Carolina | 679,000 |
Among ESPN’s biggest draws were the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, the top team in the country. All five of ESPN’s top WCBB broadcasts featured South Carolina either on the road or at home.
Throughout the WCBB regular season, it seemed like a viewership record for every network was being shattered just about every week.
While much of the viewership followed Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, part of the Big Ten (a conference to which ESPN does not hold broadcasting rights), fans still tuned into ESPN to watch South Carolina’s continued dominance. Rest assured, ESPN hopes the Hawkeyes go on a long March Madness run to reap some of the benefits that CBS, NBC, and FOX have had this season.
Additionally, the regular season was the most-watched ever on ESPN+.
