The Iowa women’s basketball team and Caitlin Clark continued their run of record ratings, as ESPN announced Saturday that Iowa’s Final Four game with UConn on Friday evening set a record for a TV broadcast with 14.2 million viewers.
That number represents the largest audience ever for a women’s college basketball game, breaking the record set by Iowa three days earlier in the Hawkeyes’ 94-87 win over the LSU Tigers in the Elite Eight.
According to ESPN, Iowa’s 71-69 victory over UConn peaked at 17 million viewers in becoming ESPN’s largest audience for a basketball game of any kind, men’s or women’s, college or pro.
Overall, the game ranked higher in audience for the network than any non-football game ever.
The lead-in game for that one, NC-State vs. South Carolina, averaged 7.1 million viewers, independent of any Iowa/Clark effect, to become the third-best rated women’s national semifinal on record.
Iowa will face undefeated South Carolina in the NCAA Championship Game on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
