Sunday’s women’s NCAA college basketball championship game between the LSU Tigers and Iowa Hawkeyes drew a record 9.9 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and its digital services, according to Nielsen Fast National numbers.
The game, in which LSU won its first women’s March Madness, was up 103 percent higher in viewership than last year’s South Carolina-Connecticut finals.
The game follows an NCAA women’s tournament Final Four round that set ratings records for ESPN. The cable sports networks averaged 4.5 million viewers for its two March 31 semifinal round games, the most viewed women’s Final Four in network history.
The Iowa-South Carolina game drew 5.5 million viewers — an ESPN record for a semi-final game — while the LSU-Virginia Tech game averaged 3.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
𝟗.𝟗 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 🤯 Record-breaking #NationalChampionship thriller between @LSUwbkb & @IowaWBB makes TV history:🏆 Most-viewed #NCAAWBB game on record🏆 Up 103% YOY🏆 Peaked at 12.6M🏆 Most-viewed college event ever on @ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/UZLVNuP3SfApril 3, 2023
