Ratings Roundup: NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Slashes Records Across the Board
Story Highlights
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, ESPN Digital has best February on record; Panther-Bruins matchup is most-watched NHL game on ABC this season; and more.
ESPN Digital 2024: Best February Ever
Following its best January ever, ESPN Digital achieved its best February on record with 103.4 million unique visitors, reaching nearly half of all users in the U.S. Sports category (47%), according to recently released Comscore data.
- ESPN Digital has topped the U.S. Sports Category for 24 consecutive months.
- The ESPN App also remained No. 1 in February, reaching 25.5 million unique users, and the ESPN Fantasy App was the top fantasy app with 3.2 million.
- ESPN on YouTube continued tremendous growth in February with 42.6 million unique users and 726 million total minutes, up 23% and 77%, respectively.
- With 652 million engagements in February, ESPN Social marked its 32nd month in a row at No. 1 among sports properties.
Saturday’s Panthers-Bruins Matchup Delivered Most-Viewed NHL Game on ABC this Season, Excluding Stadium Series
- ABC Hockey Saturday’s Florida-Boston game averages 1.2M viewers and 339K P18-49 (peaking at 1.5M), up 41% and 22% versus the comparable window last year (VGK-DAL)
- It was the most-viewed game on ABC this season excluding Stadium Series
- Dallas-Colorado on Sunday night averaged 430K viewers and 216K P18-49 (peaking at 624K), up 10% and 23% versus NHL on ESPN’s season average last year
- Through 41 games, NHL on ESPN nets are averaging 676K viewers and 222K P18-49, up 14% and 6% versus last year
Bally Sports Coverage of Hank Aaron Anniversary Averages Over 97,000 Viewers
April 8th’s Bally Sports South telecast of the New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves led all networks in the Atlanta DMA with an average of over 97,000 viewers (4.05 household rating) from 7:15-11 p.m. ET.
Bally Sports and the Atlanta Braves celebrated the 50th anniversary of Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th career home run throughout the day, culminating with the game telecast that featured Aaron’s teammate and former MLB manager Dusty Baker joining the broadcast booth and Braves manager Brian Snitker talking about Aaron via headset during the game.
The Mets vs. Braves series continues tonight with coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. ET on Bally Sports South. On the call will be play-by-play announcer Brandon Gaudin, analyst C.J. Nitkowski and reporter Wiley Ballard.
2024 NCAA Women’s Championship and Final Four on ESPN Platforms is Most Watched on Record
With final Nielsen reporting completed, Sunday’s epic title bout between No. 1 women’s seeds Iowa and South Carolina scored 18.9 million viewers, becoming the most-viewed women’s college basketball game ever and ESPN platforms’ most-viewed college basketball game (men’s or women’s) on record. The showdown peaked at 24.1 million viewers in the game’s final 15 minutes as South Carolina stormed to their second NCAA trophy in three years.
The NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Presented by Capital One is now the second most-watched non-Olympic women’s sporting event ever on U.S. television behind the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final between the U.S. and Japan. Sunday’s Championship clash between the Hawkeyes and Gamecocks is the most-watched annual sporting event – excluding football – across all networks since 2019. The audience was up 90% year-over-year and 289% from 2022 and is the most-watched basketball game (college or pro, men’s or women’s) in five years.
Leading into the history-making matchup, the one-hour NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Special Presented by Capital One delivered 2.9 million viewers. ESPN’s post-game studio programming averaged 1.4 million viewers as the Gamecocks lifted the NCAA trophy and cut down the nets in Cleveland. SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt immediately following the National Semifinals drew 6.3 million viewers, the most-viewed SVP edition of SportsCenter on record.
The fan-favorite Bird & Taurasi Show Presented by AT&T recorded the largest championship game audience in its three-year history with 1.4 million viewers on ESPN. The offering is the second most-watched alternate telecast for a college event on ESPN platforms, just behind Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show from the 2024 Rose Bowl Game.
The three-game 2024 NCAA Women’s Final Four in Cleveland was the most-viewed Women’s Final Four on record, averaging 13.8 million viewers. The trio of games was up 114% year-over-year and 299% higher than 2022.
The National Semifinals notched 11 million viewers, the most watched on record. Friday’s matchups were up 142% year-over-year and 307% from 2022. Iowa-UConn finished with 14.4 million viewers, the second most-watched women’s college basketball game on record and ESPN’s most-watched basketball game (college or pro, men’s or women’s) on record. The high-octane showdown between the Hawkeyes and Huskies peaked at 17.3 million viewers and is also the most-watched college event ever on ESPN+. The late semifinal was up 156% over 2023’s late semifinal between Iowa and South Carolina. The early semifinal featuring NC State and South Carolina finished with 7.2 million viewers, the most-watched early National Semifinal on record and an increase of 108% year-over-year. The Clash of the Carolinas peaked with 9.1 million viewers.
2024 NCAA Women’s Championship Delivers 18.7 Million Viewers on ABC & ESPN, Peaks at 24 Million – Based on Nielsen Fast Nationals
Iowa/South Carolina Clash Becomes Second Most-Watched Non-Olympic Women’s Sporting Event Ever on U.S. Television Behind 2015 Women’s World Cup Final
“With a record-setting audience of 18.7 million viewers, Sunday’s Iowa-South Carolina title game was a fitting finale to the most-viewed ever NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament,” says ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. “These exceptional athletes, coaches and teams captured our attention in unprecedented ways and it’s incumbent on all of us to keep the incredible momentum going. I’m also very proud of our talented and committed employees for how they presented this historic event.”
NCAA Semifinals on ESPN Shatter Viewership Records – UConn-Iowa Delivers 14.2 Million Viewers, Friday’s NCAA Women’s Final Four Scores Average Audience of 10.8 Million
- Huskies-Hawkeyes becomes most-watched women’s college basketball game on record, via Nielsen Fast Nationals
- UConn-Iowa, NC State-South Carolina peaked with 17 million viewers and 9 million viewers, respectively
- The two games averaged 3.1 million P18-49 viewers, up more than 130% year-over-year
The YES App Registers Highest Viewership Ever For A Daytime Yankees Game
- Yesterday’s Yankees-Diamondbacks game generated 104,558 unique streams:
- The most unique streams ever on the YES App for a non-Opening Day daytime Yankees game
- The second-most unique streams ever on the YES App for a non-Opening Day Yankees game
- The fourth-most unique streams ever on the YES App overall
- The YES App also set a record for concurrent viewers for a Yankees game, surpassing the previous highs set on March 28, 2024 (Opening Day) and then on March 31, 2024
- Users consumed the second-most minutes ever for a single live event on the YES App during yesterday’s Yankees game.
