TV Viewership 2024 Regular Season

[cancontent]

That being on BTN shows how the numbers are skewed by the "pay" channels vs regular television. You get the 3 Mil for FOX and CBS but you get less with ESPN and other pay sites.

True, but how often do we see 1M for anything on BTN for women's basketball? Think it's a first from what I've noticed.

 

[ISUnorth]

That being on BTN shows how the numbers are skewed by the "pay" channels vs regular television. You get the 3 Mil for FOX and CBS but you get less with ESPN and other pay sites.

Even so, HUGE increases over last years champ games. Big Ten 4X, SEC 2X, and Pac-12 5X over last years games. Table was for the Sunday games. ISU/Texas in Big 12 champ game drew way less than these at 336,000.

Good viewing and marquee type draws. Got the Clark factor for Big Ten, the SEC cage match of #1 vs last #1, JuJu vs Brink etc.

Another three million for Clark, Iowa, nearly matching UNC-Duke

Caitlin Clark and Iowa topped three million viewers for a second-straight week and came close to matching UNC-Duke the prior night.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

 

[ISUnorth]

True, but how often do we see 1M for anything on BTN for women's basketball? Think it's a first from what I've noticed.

They averaged 300,000 for the tournament and 100,000 over regular season even while farming out some of the bigger draw telecasts to Peacock.

 

[ConwayGmck]

From @whom111

3/8 Maryland-Ohio State BTN 196,000 .03
3/8 Nebraska-Michigan State BTN 195,000 .03
3/8 Penn State-Iowa BTN 1,040,000 .22.
3/8 Michigan-Indiana BTN 454,000 .11

Conference Tournaments

3/9 Providence-UConn FS1 249,000
3/9 Maryland-Nebraska BTN 357,000
3/9 Michigan-Iowa BTN 1,075,000
3/9 Tennessee-South Carolina ESPNU 221,000
3/9 Ole Miss-LSU ESPNU 306,000
3/10 Gameday ESPN 383,000
3/10 Nebraska-Iowa CBS 3,021,000
3/10 Notre Dame-North Carolina State ESPN 679,000
3/10 Marquette-UConn FS1 262,000
3/10 LSU-South Carolina ESPN 1,960,000
3/10 USC-Stanford ESPN 1,442,000
3/10 Georgetown-Creighton FS1 194,000

The BTN killed it recently. I have no doubt it has set records for viewers of a conference network wbb broadcast

ESPNU looking pretty dowdy lately. No one saw that great finish to the game except on replays elsewhere. The reg. season games on ESPN proper drew 700K and 680K respectively, three times what the ESPNU channel brought.


How come the BTN is listed here, but not the SECN, ACCN, or PAC12N???

 

[visitingcock]

Before the NCAA tournament last year, there were only two games with over a million viewers.

• LSU at Scar 1.466 mil (ESPN)
• SCar at UConn 1.087 mil (FOX)

This year, there have been thirteen games with over a million viewers. Two were the South Carolina vs LSU. One was SCar vs. UConn. One was Southern Cal vs. Stanford (the last PAC game). One (in a mild surprise) was Tennessee vs Indiana.

Eight of the million+ viewers were captured by Iowa including two games of over 3 million viewers!

Additionally, Iowa sold out all their home games and many of their road games. The Big Ten tournament sold out.

Thank you for what you have done for wbb Caitlin. You too Lisa! Networks and advertisers are now looking at wbb much differently. As always, thank you @awhom111.

Talk about this for a few more days. I'm going to open a new thread when we get our first tournament returns to keep all that info together and separate I expect a bunch of million view games - not just Iowa. When I open that thread, @HuskyNan may close this one to avoid board clutter.

It's been a great season!

 

[visitingcock]

ESPNU looking pretty dowdy lately. No one saw that great finish to the game except on replays elsewhere. The reg. season games on ESPN proper drew 700K and 680K respectively, three times what the ESPNU channel brought.


How come the BTN is listed here, but not the SECN, ACCN, or PAC12N???

Because few of them brought in sufficient numbers to be report. Remember ESPN has multiple channels that show games ahead of the SECN. SECN is the place for Kentucky vs. Mizzou type games. PAC and ACC big games are on ESPN or even a network. Their lower games end up on the conference networks.

Note also that the BTN killed it by broadcasting the entire Big Ten Tournament. Smart move.

 

[jumpstart]

Even so, HUGE increases over last years champ games. Big Ten 4X, SEC 2X, and Pac-12 5X over last years games. Table was for the Sunday games. ISU/Texas in Big 12 champ game drew way less than these at 336,000.

Good viewing and marquee type draws. Got the Clark factor for Big Ten, the SEC cage match of #1 vs last #1, JuJu vs Brink etc.

View attachment 97642

Another three million for Clark, Iowa, nearly matching UNC-Duke

Caitlin Clark and Iowa topped three million viewers for a second-straight week and came close to matching UNC-Duke the prior night.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Oh yes I agree that more eyes are there because of Paige, Catlin, and the others who were the darlings at the time.

 

[TN-Gamecock]

I believe if IOWA and Carolina are in the final four this year, it could break all-time records. Let's be honest, Clark brings the eyeballs. UCONN and Carolina do not bring in the numbers as a team as much as the individual Clark does (that's just a fact).

Caitlin is laying the groundwork for future generations to follow. I find that refreshing. The one's before Caitlin did not have the right mixture of ingredients to pull off what she did.

 

[cancontent]

I believe if IOWA and Carolina are in the final four this year, it could break all-time records. Let's be honest, Clark brings the eyeballs. UCONN and Carolina do not bring in the numbers as a team as much as the individual Clark does (that's just a fact).

Caitlin is laying the groundwork for future generations to follow. I find that refreshing. The one's before Caitlin did not have the right mixture of ingredients to pull off what she did.

Does mixture of ingredients include circumstances too? Talent aside, the interest in NCAAW was starting to increase prior to her joining Iowa. NIL and marketing has also helped as well. Could she have had the same impact 5-10 years ago? I don't know.

 

[BigTenGuy]

. . . This year, there have been thirteen games with over a million viewers. . . . One (in a mild surprise) was Tennessee vs Indiana.

The TENN-IU viewership number on Fox is significantly explained by the context of Thanksgiving Day and lead in programming.
Fox opened Thanksgiving afternoon with NFL football, Green Bay at Detroit, with 33,698,000 viewers. That massive number helped the followup MBB game, Michigan State-Arizona, draw 5,183,000 viewers, the most viewers of any MBB game this season, and the only MBB game this season to outdraw the 3/3 Iowa-OSU WBB game, with 3,388,000 viewers.

The TENN-IU WBB game on Thanksgiving day followed the MBB Michigan State-AZ game, and posted 1,118,000 in viewership, a great number.

 

[visitingcock]

The TENN-IU viewership number on Fox is significantly explained by the context of Thanksgiving Day and lead in programming.
Fox opened Thanksgiving afternoon with NFL football, Green Bay at Detroit, with 33,698,000 viewers. That massive number helped the followup MBB game, Michigan State-Arizona, draw 5,183,000 viewers, the most viewers of any MBB game this season, and the only MBB game this season to outdraw the 3/3 Iowa-OSU WBB game, with 3,388,000 viewers.

The TENN-IU WBB game on Thanksgiving day followed the MBB Michigan State-AZ game, and posted 1,118,000 in viewership, a great number.

I would love to see BTN numbers comparing Viewership on that network for men’s vs women’s bb broadcasts.

Of course, the trick will be to keep the women’s viewership up. I’ll expect them to drop with Clark departing but the question is: How much? JuJu and the Bett’s sisters may help; particularly if the LA market wakes up.

 

[cancontent]

I would love to see BTN numbers comparing Viewership on that network for men’s vs women’s bb broadcasts.

Of course, the trick will be to keep the women’s viewership up. I’ll expect them to drop with Clark departing but the question is: How much? JuJu and the Bett’s sisters may help; particularly if the LA market wakes up.

And game attendance numbers. Could we see a similar trend of sell outs for USC and UCLA away games, like Iowa this season? Fans in the Eastern time zone having a chance to see them live without having to travel. A lot to watch out for next season for sure.

 

[jumpstart]

I believe if IOWA and Carolina are in the final four this year, it could break all-time records. Let's be honest, Clark brings the eyeballs. UCONN and Carolina do not bring in the numbers as a team as much as the individual Clark does (that's just a fact).

Caitlin is laying the groundwork for future generations to follow. I find that refreshing. The one's before Caitlin did not have the right mixture of ingredients to pull off what she did.

Look at the last few ESPN darlings of WBB...Plum, Ionescu, Bueckers and now Catlin and tell me what they all had in common. There were multiple articles almost daily about each one. I'll hang up and wait.

 

[BigTenGuy]

Look at the last few ESPN darlings of WBB...Plum, Ionescu, Bueckers and now Catlin and tell me what they all had in common. There were multiple articles almost daily about each one. I'll hang up and wait.

Was Clark more of a media darling her first year than Watkins was this year?

 

[jumpstart]

Was Clark more of a media darling her first year than Watkins was this year?

Good point....but she may be benefitting from it. Clarks first year was during the Plum and Paige years of article domination. ESPN was running with one player each year as long as that player was playing.

 

[cancontent]

Good point....but she may be benefitting from it. Clarks first year was during the Plum and Paige years of article domination. ESPN was running with one player each year as long as that player was playing.

Wasn't Plum in the WNBA by then? I think you meant Ionescu here.

 

[visitingcock]

Was Clark more of a media darling her first year than Watkins was this year?

Clark was overshadowed by Paige their freshman year. Paige was not only freshman of the year but also national POY. yeah, you heard some about Clark but no nearly as much as Paige. Not even close.

In their sophomore year, Boston was the media darling. Clark was staring to come on in the news while Paige was injured but Clark was nowhere near what she would become as a junior.

Junior year, she had a very good year and Paige was almost completely out of the news. She and Boston were running neck in neck until about February, Clark started putting up logo threes under pressure asthe Big Ten. Then she crushed shot after shot including that game winner against Indiana. She was the media the darling. When she took Iowa to the Elite Eight, even a Gamecock like me said "Yeah, she deserves POTY."

When she led her little band of rebels to defeat the Evil Empire in the Final Four she became THE Media Queen.

Stay tuned!

 

[BigTenGuy]

Clark was overshadowed by Paige their freshman year. Paige was not only freshman of the year . . .

FWIW, WBCA and USBWA both had Bueckers and Clark as co-FOY. Does AP even pick a FOY? Can’t recall and can’t quickly find it.

Also, if I understand your Clark narrative, you’re saying her popularity and media attention were earned by performance, rather than by media anoitment. Perhaps explains why Clark moved the TV ratings needle.

 

[visitingcock]

FWIW, WBCA and USBWA both had Bueckers and Clark as co-FOY. Does AP even pick a FOY? Can’t recall and can’t quickly find it.

Also, if I understand your Clark narrative, you’re saying her popularity and media attention were earned by performance, rather than by media anoitment. Perhaps explains why Clark moved the TV ratings needle.

Yes. She earned it.

 

[cancontent]

Can only hope this could lead to the women's game no longer being part of FloHoops!

 

[BigTenGuy]

I would love to see BTN numbers comparing Viewership on that network for men’s vs women’s bb broadcasts.

Pending the 2024 men's Big Ten tourney, the top 4 most watched BTN basketball games in network history are:

3/11/22 Michigan State vs Wisconsin (men) 1,192,000
3/9/24 Iowa v Michigan (women) 1,075,000
3/8/24 Iowa v Penn State (women) 1,040,000
3/12/21 Iowa v Wisconsin (men) 939,000

Iowa vs. Michigan Marks Most-Watched Women's Athletic Event in Network History - Big Ten Network

For the first time in network history, the Big Ten Network had two women's athletic events bring in over one million viewers. On Saturday, March 9, the semifinal matchup between Iowa and Michigan delivered 1,075,000 viewers, making it the most-watched women's athletic event in BTN history. The...

btn.com

The magnitude of the WBB increase this year is astonishing. Before the current season, the most watched WBB game on BTN was Iowa vs Maryland last year in the Big Ten tourney with 380,000 viewers.

Big Ten Women’s Basketball Sets Viewership Record For Second Consecutive Year - Big Ten Network

For the second consecutive season, Big Ten regular season women's basketball and the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament Presented by TIAA were the most-watched in Big Ten Network history. BTN's Big Ten Women's basketball tournament was up +25% year-over-year, averaging 150,000 viewers per...

btn.com

 

[donalddoowop]

Kiah Stokes is doing color on the WAC Tournament today on ESPNU.

 

[TN-Gamecock]

Look at the last few ESPN darlings of WBB...Plum, Ionescu, Bueckers and now Catlin and tell me what they all had in common. There were multiple articles almost daily about each one. I'll hang up and wait.

They are some of the greatest of all-time. Wish more was written about Cameron Brink. If I started a team today...Caitlin would be my 1st choice with Brink #2.

Here's my team if I could get them all.

1. PG Clark
2. SG Bueckers
3. PF Brink
4. C Kitley
5. SF Jackson

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Fox had a great season, fantastic numbers on that package.

 

[Pradanelly]

They are some of the greatest of all-time. Wish more was written about Cameron Brink. If I started a team today...Caitlin would be my 1st choice with Brink #2.

Here's my team if I could get them all.

1. PG Clark
2. SG Bueckers
3. PF Brink
4. C Kitley
5. SF Jackson

Greatest of all-time is a stretch...

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I think maybe there are many players who aren't white that got a ton of coverage.

Two of them went to South Carolina and were covered to saturation.

Angel Reese is another.

Also Ionescu and Clark for two were breaking all time records. It's hard for me say Bueckers didn't deserve every bit of the freshman attention. Then she got market corrected by Clark and you don't hear about her so much.

 

[visitingcock]

Greatest of all-time is a stretch...

Here's what I think is @awhom111 's last regular season submission. It includes a number of "smaller" broadcasts mixed in with some larger ones previously posted. Let's talk about it for about 48 hours. Then, I will close it as we start looking at numbers for the Tournament.

Thank you all who this participated this season.

3/6 Ball State-Kent State ESPNU 45,000
3/7 Illinois-Maryland BTN 56,000
3/7 Purdue-Nebraska BTN 128,000
3/7 Howard-Norfolk State ESPNU 20,000
3/7 Wisconsin-Penn State BTN 95,000
3/7 Minnesota-Michigan BTN 91,000
3/8 Maryland-Ohio State BTN 196,000 .03
3/8 Nebraska-Michigan State BTN 195,000 .03
3/8 Penn State-Iowa BTN 1,040,000 .22
3/8 Michigan-Indiana BTN 454,000 .11
3/9 Providence-UConn FS1 249,000
3/9 Marquette-Villanova FS2 40,000
3/9 Maryland-Nebraska BTN 357,000
3/9 Michigan-Iowa BTN 1,075,000
3/9 Tennessee-South Carolina ESPNU 221,000
3/9 Ole Miss-LSU ESPNU 306,000
3/9 Seton Hall-Creighton FS2 43,000
3/9 Georgetown-St. John's FS2 22,000
3/10 Gameday ESPN 383,000
3/10 UNC Greensboro-Chattanooga ESPNU 24,000
3/10 Nebraska-Iowa CBS 3,021,000
3/10 Notre Dame-North Carolina State ESPN 679,000
3/10 Marquette-UConn FS1 262,000
3/10 LSU-South Carolina ESPN 1,960,000
3/10 Rhode Island-Richmond ESPN2 75,000
3/10 USC-Stanford ESPN 1,442,000
3/10 Georgetown-Creighton FS1 194,000
3/10 Presbyterian-Radford ESPN2 82,000
3/11 Iowa State-Oklahoma ESPN2 140,000 .03
3/11 Kansas State-Texas ESPN2 209,000 .05
3/11 Georgetown-UConn FS1 307,000 .04
3/12 Iowa State-Texas ESPN2 336,000 .05

 

[wbbhoops278]

Does mixture of ingredients include circumstances too? Talent aside, the interest in NCAAW was starting to increase prior to her joining Iowa. NIL and marketing has also helped as well. Could she have had the same impact 5-10 years ago? I don't know.

Yeah but I guess, does it matter what would have happened 5-10 years ago? Anyone who accomplishes anything does so with the context of time, technology, location, opportunities, and a ton of other factors.

I won't play into the trope about who is "the best" and all that nonsense, but it's pretty indisputable what she's done to bring eyes and fans to the game. That said, I don't know that I agree with the notion that she's "building the foundation" (the post you were responding to) because I do think that's bigger than she is, although she's certainly contributing.

 

[darrell]

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

They are some of the greatest of all-time. Wish more was written about Cameron Brink. If I started a team today...Caitlin would be my 1st choice with Brink #2.

Here's my team if I could get them all.

1. PG Clark
2. SG Bueckers
3. PF Brink
4. C Kitley
5. SF Jackson

Brink is an outstanding player. PAC-12 players have been hurt by the ineptitude of the P12N.