ESPN’s Women’s Hoops Season, March Madness Wins Viewers, Marketers

By Barry Janoff

April 5, 2023: ESPN has released its viewership numbers for its coverage of the women’s college basketball regular season and post-season, and it turns out that LSU was not the only winner.

The network said its coverage of the women’s college basketball regular season was “the most-viewed since 2014-15,” averaging 190,000 viewers (83 games), up 11% year-over-year.

That was capped off by the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Presented by Capital One on April 2 featuring LSU’s 102-85 victory over Iowa which averaged 9.9 million viewers, “making it the most-viewed women’s college basketball game and ESPN platforms’ most-viewed college basketball game (men’s or women’s) on record.”

The title game, which aired on ABC for the first time, was up 104% increase over last year’s final.

It was also the most-viewed college event all-time on ESPN+.

Also benefiting from burgeoning viewership were sponsors and advertisers, with Disney Advertising saying it sold out in-game sponsorship opportunities for the Women’s Basketball Championship for the second year in a row, with more advertisers joining in 2023.

Disney Advertising said the 68-team tournament attracted 15 broadcast sponsors and nearly 100 advertisers across various categories, up from 14 and 22, respectively, a year ago.

The one-hour NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Special Presented by Capital One preceded the championship, averaging 1.7 million viewers.

The 2023 NCAA Women’s Final Four in Dallas was ESPN’s most-viewed Final Four weekend on record, averaging 6.5 million viewers, an 87% increase from 2022’s event in Minneapolis.

The national semi-finals averaged 4.5 million viewers, the most-viewed semi-final round on record on ESPN platforms, up 68% versus 2022.

The anticipated Iowa vs. South Carolina game averaged 5.6 million viewers, becoming ESPN’s third most-viewed women’s college basketball game on record, a 74% increase from 2022’s late-night window.

Eventual national champion LSU’s game against Virginia Tech averaged 3.4 million viewers, ESPN’s most-viewed early national semi-final on record, and an increase of 60% from the early window last year.

The season’s most-watched regular season game was LSU vs. South Carolina on ESPN, which averaged 1.5 million viewers, making it the most-viewed regular season women’s college basketball game on any network since 2010.

This year’s Women’s March Madness (59 games) across ESPN platforms averaged 983,000 viewers, up 55% over the 2022 tournament.

ESPN said every round of the championship experienced viewership growth versus 2022, including double-digit increases for the First and Second Rounds, the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight.

“The overwhelming success of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament is a testament to the incredible performances by this year’s student athletes,” Nick Dawson, ESPN vp-programming, said via the network.

“The record-setting viewership reflects fan appreciation of those performances, as well as the many years of hard work, creative scheduling, promotion and collaboration between the NCAA and ESPN."

Media buys were led by brands including Capital One, Nissan, Invesco QQQ, Buick, CarMax, Indeed.com, Unilever and Werner Ladder, with Aflac, Great Clips, Intuit QuickBooks, OOFOS, Principal, Under Armour, U.S. Army, Wendy’s and Xfinity also among those with significant air-time.

Invesco QQQ returned as presenting sponsor of the WBCA Coaches Trophy, culminating with the trophy presentation to LSU following the National Championship game in American Airlines Center.

AT&T returned as the presenting and halftime sponsor for The Bird & Taurasi Show alternate presentation of the Final Four and Championship game with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi.

The Bird & Taurasi Show, one of multiple Women’s Final Four MegaCast offerings, averaged 742,000 viewers for Sunday’s finale.

Capital One was also presenting sponsor of the Women’s Final Four pre-game shows.

In August, calling it a “benchmark announcement for women’s basketball,” the NCAA and ESPN said the 2023  Div. I Women’s Basketball Championship game would be broadcast for the first time live on ABC.

“Scheduling the Div. I Women’s Basketball Championship on ABC has been a goal for quite some time in our ongoing efforts to maximize the exposure of women’s sports in collaboration with the NCAA,” Burke Magnus, ESPN president, programming and original content, said via the network at the time.

ESPN said the game could not air during prime time because those hours on ABC are already committed to entertainment shows, but that it would “look to move the game to prime time in the future.”

“Women’s NCAA Championships continue to generate strong audiences across the ABC/ESPN networks and this move represents yet another unique opportunity to showcase this marquee event and the student-athletes who are competing for a national championship," said Magnus.

According to Dawson, "The 2023 season marks a milestone in the growth of women’s college basketball and all of us at ESPN look forward to working with the NCAA to continue the upward trajectory of the sport and this signature event.”

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