BREAKING: The Iowa-South Carolina national championship game averaged 18.7 million viewers.

That makes it the most watched basketball game — men's or women's, college or professional — in five years.

What a MASSIVE month for women's basketball. pic.twitter.com/qCXRcpt392

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) April 8, 2024

18.7 million people watched the women's national championship game.

Same number as the Washington-Texas CFP semifinal.

Higher than last year's Alabama-Georgia SEC championship.

To think, just two years ago, this same event drew 4.5 million.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) April 8, 2024

It'll be interesting to see how significant Clark was to those numbers. I'd be surprised if they don't drop significantly

IowaBear said:

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It'll be interesting to see how significant Clark was to those numbers. I'd be surprised if they don't drop significantly

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Yep…thank you Caitlin "the engine" Clark

IowaBear said:

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It'll be interesting to see how significant Clark was to those numbers. I'd be surprised if they don't drop significantly

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They will. It'll still be great numbers to what they were 5-10 years ago, but I'm thinking without Clark and Reese and those personalities, not as many people will be interested in it. Unless Juju has an incredible personality.

For the first time ever, the Women’s NCAA Tournament Championship had more viewers than the men’s.

Women’s Final: 18.9M viewers
Men’s Final: 14.8M viewers

Times have changed. (via @JoePompliano) pic.twitter.com/TKwyC8QsWm

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 9, 2024

boognish_bear said:

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For the first time ever, the Women’s NCAA Tournament Championship had more viewers than the men’s.

Women’s Final: 18.9M viewers
Men’s Final: 14.8M viewers

Times have changed. (via @JoePompliano) pic.twitter.com/TKwyC8QsWm

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 9, 2024

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The 1979 Bird v. Magic NCAA final was the most watched NCAA basketball game in history.

Viewership for the 1980 matchup between Darrell Griffith of Louisville v. Kiki Vandeweghe of UCLA was off by 30-35% from the previous year.

boognish_bear said:

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For the first time ever, the Women’s NCAA Tournament Championship had more viewers than the men’s.

Women’s Final: 18.9M viewers
Men’s Final: 14.8M viewers

Times have changed. (via @JoePompliano) pic.twitter.com/TKwyC8QsWm

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 9, 2024

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A factor that is not being mentioned is the timing of the two events and the days on which they were played. The women's game was on Sunday afternoon (hint, hint.....you know the same time slot during which NFL games are played during their season). The men's game didn't start until about 9:00 PM (CST) on a work night. I stopped watching at halftime. The men's tournament games just started too late, especially for those on the east coast. They lost viewers because of the start time without question. If you are fan of one of the teams of course you watched, but casual observers who didn't give a flip as to who won were not going to stay up to see the end.

Perhaps you still would have seen the women having more viewers than men if the games had been at the same time and same slot, but I doubt it. Certainly Clark was an attraction, but if you don't factor in when the games were played they are not even comparing apples to oranges.

Caitlin Clark > Zach Edey