Caitlin Clark and Iowa draw historic viewership throughout March Madness

The GIST: Women’s March Madness was expected to be more compelling than the men’s, and the numbers proved this. The tournament hype — largely driven by Iowa’s star guard Caitlin Clark — resulted in the most-watched college basketball games in ESPN history. Believe.

• As we await the viewership numbers from yesterday’s championship game, keep scrolling for more on women’s basketball’s wins this weekend.

The record: Friday’s Iowa vs. UConn game drew 14.2M viewers, peaking at 17M to become the most-watched basketball matchup at any level on ESPN and the most-watched women’s hoops game over the past 30 years. The contest also beat out every regular-season college football game this season except one and was ESPN’s second-most watched non-football telecast ever.

• This tops the previous 12.3M record set by Iowa and LSU four days earlier, which saw higher numbers than the winning game of the 2023 MLB World Series (11.48M) and nearly all of last year’s NBA Finals games.

• The Iowa–UConn viewership also eclipsed that of the other semifinal between South Carolina and NC State, which averaged 7.1M viewers in the timeslot before.

The Clark Effect: This solidifies a trend that’s been observed all season — Clark is the reason record-breaking crowds are showing up. The most recognizable athlete in all of March Madness featured in the most-watched game for each round in the women’s tourney, including 3.2M viewers in the first and 4.9M in the second.

Lingering questions: Clark will likely receive an Indiana Fever jersey during next Monday’s WNBA Draft, and the league is already trying to flex games into larger venues to keep up with demand. And as Clark moves to the pros, fans are looking for the next huge women’s basketball star to post up. Fresh to death.