Some mind-blowing numbers from this past weekend...

[schmendrick]

From Just Women's Sports:

In the least surprising news ever, ESPN’s Megacast of the women’s Final Four was a massive success.

• The national championship game between South Carolina and UConn was the most-watched NCAA Tournament final in almost 20 years, with 4.85 million viewers tuning in on ESPN networks.
• The number presents year-over-year growth of 18 percent from the 2021 championship, and 30 percent from 2019.
• The game peaked at 5.91 million viewers. The total number includes 4.46 million viewers on the traditional telecast and 218,000 viewers for the Bird and Taurasi Show on ESPN2.
• For reference, American Idol (running on ABC) drew 4.71 million viewers in the same time slot.

Friday’s semifinal games saw similar year-over-year growth: It was the most-watched Final Four since 2012, with 21 percent overall growth from 2021.

• The later game between Stanford and UConn drew 3.23 million viewers, an increase of 19 percent from 2021.
• Friday’s opener between South Carolina and Louisville drew 2.16 million viewers, in an even greater year-over-year increase of 27 percent for the early game and the greatest total since 2016.

The national championship game also registered a sellout crowd of 18,304 fans.

• The 2022 tournament is on track to break the all-time women’s tournament attendance record after setting the tone in the early rounds.
• Said coach Dawn Staley after the title win: “When you treat women’s basketball like a sport, it’s so freaking fulfilling. When you invest in our tournament like you invest in the men’s tournament, you (ESPN) need some competition as far as networks to drive the price up.”

 

[LoboDays]

All these growing numbers are deserved. Women’s hoops is a pleasure to watch. Both players and coaches get better every year resulting in better teams and high quality play.

Anyone know if the refs in the Men’s and Women’s tourney get the same pay?

 

[oldude]

Certainly all the matchups were intriguing, involving four of the top coaches and teams of the past decade and beyond, along with the star power represented by Bueckers, Boston, Jones & Hailey Van Lith. It was a great show, even though some of us didn’t particularly care for the ending…

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I would not include the 218,000 from the Bird and Taurasi show as the game ran there like a background Christmas fireplace while the 2 buddies and their guests yammered about anything and everything. If you wanted the game you'd watch the game on ESPN.

 

[eebmg]

I would not include the 218,000 from the Bird and Taurasi show as the game ran there like a background Christmas fireplace while the 2 buddies and their guests yammered about anything and everything. If you wanted the game you'd watch the game on ESPN.

I think most of the people who watched Bird / Taurasi would go back to the regular
ESPN game if the option was not there so I have no problem adding up the numbers.

 

[mbr33ct]

All these growing numbers are deserved. Women’s hoops is a pleasure to watch. Both players and coaches get better every year resulting in better teams and high quality play.

Anyone know if the refs in the Men’s and Women’s tourney get the same pay?

I believe I read an article or at least a headline stating they would, this stemming from the fiasco from last years gender disparity issues....found one of the articles.

NCAA to pay officials same for men’s and women’s basketball tournaments - Just Women's Sports

The NCAA announced it will compensate officials for the men's and women's tournaments equally moving forward.

justwomenssports.com

 

[visitingcock]

From Just Women's Sports:

In the least surprising news ever, ESPN’s Megacast of the women’s Final Four was a massive success.

• The national championship game between South Carolina and UConn was the most-watched NCAA Tournament final in almost 20 years, with 4.85 million viewers tuning in on ESPN networks.
• The number presents year-over-year growth of 18 percent from the 2021 championship, and 30 percent from 2019.
• The game peaked at 5.91 million viewers. The total number includes 4.46 million viewers on the traditional telecast and 218,000 viewers for the Bird and Taurasi Show on ESPN2.
• For reference, American Idol (running on ABC) drew 4.71 million viewers in the same time slot.

Friday’s semifinal games saw similar year-over-year growth: It was the most-watched Final Four since 2012, with 21 percent overall growth from 2021.

• The later game between Stanford and UConn drew 3.23 million viewers, an increase of 19 percent from 2021.
• Friday’s opener between South Carolina and Louisville drew 2.16 million viewers, in an even greater year-over-year increase of 27 percent for the early game and the greatest total since 2016.

The national championship game also registered a sellout crowd of 18,304 fans.

• The 2022 tournament is on track to break the all-time women’s tournament attendance record after setting the tone in the early rounds.
• Said coach Dawn Staley after the title win: “When you treat women’s basketball like a sport, it’s so freaking fulfilling. When you invest in our tournament like you invest in the men’s tournament, you (ESPN) need some competition as far as networks to drive the price up.”

Don't forget the Elite 8 games. SCar vs Creighton 1.07 million and UConn vs NC State (great game) 1.35 million

 

[Next 12]

In the whole United States there is NO team in women's BB that draws better than UConn. It's almost like UConn is the nations Women's BB team. Geno has put UConn on the map as the best you can get. So they didn't win this year and they haven't won in the last 6 years, but what they have done NO-ONE will ever match; not in 1 hundred years. GO HUSKIES!!!

 

[Dognusty]

In the whole United States there is NO team in women's BB that draws better than UConn. It's almost like UConn is the nations Women's BB team. Geno has put UConn on the map as the best you can get. So they didn't win this year and they haven't won in the last 6 years, but what they have done NO-ONE will ever match; not in 1 hundred years. GO HUSKIES!!!

UCONN is the standard but SC is the culture right now.

 

[nomdoux]

UCONN is the standard but SC is the culture right now.

Well phrased. I would say SC is zeitgeist of WBB presently. We’ll see what future holds but lots of momentum in Columbia right now.

 

[snlMINAJ]

I've got to be honest, i don't get. most watched in almost 20 years, so not breaking any records.
when they say we've come a long way, well what happened almost 20 years ago that led to better viewership?

 

[TheFarmFan]

I've got to be honest, i don't get. most watched in almost 20 years, so not breaking any records.
when they say we've come a long way, well what happened almost 20 years ago that led to better viewership?

It's what wasn't happening. No smart phones, YouTube, tiktok, Netflix, Disney+, ESPN3 Replays, Facebook, Twitter, or Snap chat.

There's a lot more content these days, chasing the same number of eyeballs. Terrestrial TV ratings in general are down tremendously from 20 years ago. Heck, ESPN has 25 million fewer subscribers than it did in 2012, let alone 2002.