Current:Home > MyCaitlin Clark, Iowa set conference tournament viewership record after beating Nebraska -Thrive Success Strategies
Caitlin Clark, Iowa set conference tournament viewership record after beating Nebraska
View
Date:2025-04-12 18:50:21
Fans can't get enough of Caitlin Clark.
Iowa's Big Ten championship win over Nebraska on Sunday was the most-watched conference tournament game on any network in women's college basketball history, CBS Sports reported on Tuesday.
The network said that the game, where the Hawkeyes won 94-89 for their third straight Big Ten title behind 34 points and 12 assists from Clark, had an average of 3.021 million viewers. The audience peaked when the game went into overtime and 4.450 million people tuned in.
The matchup was the most-watched game of the day, which also featured the SEC championship where South Carolina outlasted LSU after a scuffle in the fourth quarter to win their eighth conference title in 10 years.
The Athletic's Richard Deitsch compared the numbers between the women's Big Ten championship and the storied rivalry between Duke and North Carolina's men's basketball teams. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels faced off on Saturday in the regular season finale. North Carolina won at Cameron Indoor, clinching the regular season ACC crown. Deitsch said that game, which was aired on ESPN, had an average of 3.076 million viewers.
WOMEN'S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY's women's tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.
The Big Ten Network also reported that Iowa amassed more than 1 million viewers for both its semifinal and quarterfinal games in the conference tournament. It's the first time the network has seen two women's games pass the 1 million mark. The 1.075 million fans that tuned in for the semifinal against Michigan made the game the most-watched women's sports event and second overall in the network's history.
Clark − with other stars such as LSU's Angel Reese, former South Carolina star Aliyah Boston and Stanford's Cameron Brink − have helped elevate the profile of women's basketball. Last year's Final Four saw record viewership on ESPN with an average of 5.5 million and peak of 6.6 million people watching Iowa versus South Carolina. When Clark broke Pete Maravich's all-time scoring record earlier this month in a game against Ohio State, an average of 3.4 million fans tuned in, making it the most-watched women's college basketball game in FOX's history.
The Hawkeyes clinched a berth in the NCAA tournament with the championship win. They will learn their seeding for the competition on Selection Sunday.
veryGood! (7234)
Related
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- Chiefs overcome mistakes to beat Jaguars 17-9, Kansas City’s 3rd win vs Jacksonville in 10 months
- UAW justifies wage demands by pointing to CEO pay raises. So how high were they?
- 'Wait Wait' for September 16, 2023: With Not My Job guest Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- McBride and Collier lead Lynx over Sun 82-75 to force a deciding Game 3 in WNBA playoffs
- Russell Brand Denies Sexual Assault Allegations Made Against Him
- Drew Barrymore postpones her show’s new season launch until after the Hollywood strikes resolve
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- Caught in a lie, CEO of embattled firm caring for NYC migrants resigns
Ranking
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- New York employers must include pay rates in job ads under new state law
- Prescott has 2 TDs, Wilson 3 picks in 1st start after Rodgers injury as Cowboys beat Jets 30-10
- Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner removed from Rock Hall leadership after controversial comments
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- Lee makes landfall in Canada with impacts felt in New England: Power outages, downed trees
- Landslide in northwest Congo kills at least 17 people after torrential rain
- Dodgers win NL West for 10th time in 11 seasons
Recommendation
Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
New Mexico governor amends controversial temporary gun ban, now targets parks, playgrounds
First two cargo ships arrive in Ukrainian port after Russia’s exit from grain deal
Low Mississippi River limits barges just as farmers want to move their crops downriver
John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
New Mexico governor amends controversial temporary gun ban, now targets parks, playgrounds
‘Nun 2' narrowly edges ‘A Haunting in Venice’ over quiet weekend in movie theaters
Oregon launches legal psilocybin, known as magic mushrooms access to the public