In Monday night’s NCAA Women’s Tournament second-round game, Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes faced a tough challenge from the West Virginia Mountaineers. Although the game was tied with five minutes left, Iowa managed to pull ahead and secure a 64-54 victory, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. Clark had an impressive performance, scoring 32 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
The game aired on ESPN and drew significant viewership, averaging 4.9 million viewers and becoming the most-watched pre-Final Four women’s tournament game ever. At its peak, the game attracted 6.4 million viewers, marking the third-highest viewership for any women’s tournament game in the past 20 years, trailing only Iowa’s Final Four and national championship games last season.
Caitlin Clark, Iowa smash another NCAA Tournament viewership record in West Virginia win https://t.co/DY6QXPxgCi pic.twitter.com/MhCU3pe8sB
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 27, 2024
This record-breaking viewership surpassed the previous record set by Clark and Iowa in their first-round win over Holy Cross, which averaged 3.23 million viewers on ABC.
Looking ahead, Saturday’s game between Iowa and the 5-seed Colorado Buffaloes is expected to draw significant attention, especially if Iowa advances to face the LSU Tigers in a potential rematch of last year’s national championship game. While it’s unlikely that the women’s tournament final will surpass the men’s tournament final in viewership, the possibility remains as long as Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes continue their impressive run in the game.
