Stop us if you’ve heard this one before — people really like watching Caitlin Clark, her Iowa Hawkeyes, and women’s college basketball in general. ESPN reported that its viewership for round one of the NCAA Women’s March Madness College Basketball Tournament was the most consumed on record and was up 70 percent compared to last season.
Leading the way were, of course, Clark and the Hawkeyes, whose first-round game against Holy Cross garnered 3.2 million viewers on ABC. The Saturday 3 p.m. ET tilt was the most-viewed first-round game ever recorded and the best pre-semifinal women’s March Madness game on record. Its lead-in, Jackson State vs. UConn, was the third-best opening-round game on record, reaching 1.1 million viewers.
The Worldwide Leader also touted two other games on its docket — the first-round matchup between Tennessee and Green Bay on ESPN, which became the second-most-watched first-round game for ESPN, and the matchup between LSU and Rice, which marked the most-watched weekday first-round game on record.
Women’s college basketball ratings have reached new heights this season, powered mostly by Clark. Clark’s final regular-season game on FOX was the network’s most-watched women’s college basketball game since 2010, and the team’s conference championship game against Nebraska reached a peak viewership of 4.45 million.
