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Viewer ratings for the men’s college basketball national championship game increased, but compared to the women’s game, it was insignificant. For the first time in history, the women’s national championship had high ratings.
Monday’s national championship game between Connecticut and Purdue drew 14.8 million viewers on TBS, TNT and TruTV, Neilson said. That’s a slight increase compared to the 14.7 million people for the 2023 Huskies vs. San Diego State men’s title game.
However, ratings for the men’s match were once again low. Last year’s U.S. Championship was the least-watched title game in recorded history, and Monday’s game was the second-least watched in history. It also fell well short of Sunday’s women’s national championship game between Iowa and South Carolina, which drew 18.7 million viewers on ESPN and ABC, making it the most-watched game in women’s basketball history. The most-watched sporting event outside of football and the Olympics since 2019, the Hawkeyes-Shamcocks game had a peak audience of 24 million viewers, according to ESPN.
It’s no secret that the women’s NCAA Tournament was far more interesting and intriguing than the men’s tournament. The record for most-watched women’s basketball game was broken several times throughout the tournament, all of which featured Iowa State star Caitlin Clark. There weren’t any star players in the men’s NCAA Tournament that came close to Clark’s level. The National Championship Game was played between the best teams all season, was broadcast on TBS rather than CBS, and had a late start time of 9:20 PM ET.
The last time the men’s national championship game drew more than 20 million viewers was in 2017, when the North Carolina-Gonzaga game drew just under 23 million viewers on CBS. As a result of Monday’s game, Connecticut defeated Purdue and won the national championship for the second consecutive year.
Follow the madness: NCAA basketball brackets, scores, schedules, teams, and more.
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