Current:Home > MyCaitlin Clark, Iowa set conference tournament viewership record after beating Nebraska -Global Capital Summit
Caitlin Clark, Iowa set conference tournament viewership record after beating Nebraska
View
Date:2025-04-14 15:14:49
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! (77)
Related
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Social media can put young people in danger, U.S. surgeon general warns
- Some Utilities Want a Surcharge to Let the Sunshine In
- More than 6 in 10 say Biden's mental fitness to be president is a concern, poll finds
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- Heidi Klum Handles Nip Slip Like a Pro During Cannes Film Festival 2023
- FDA advisers narrowly back first gene therapy for muscular dystrophy
- Would Ryan Seacrest Like to Be a Dad One Day? He Says…
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Overstock.com wins auction for Bed Bath and Beyond's assets
Ranking
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- Supercomputers, Climate Models and 40 Years of the World Climate Research Programme
- Hospitals create police forces to stem growing violence against staff
- You'll Need a Pumptini After Tom Sandoval and James Kennedy's Vanderpump Rules Reunion Fight
- Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
- Gov. Rejects Shutdown of Great Lakes Oil Pipeline That’s Losing Its Coating
- 'No violins': Michael J. Fox reflects on his career and life with Parkinson's
- We asked, you answered: How do you feel about the end of the COVID-19 'emergency'
Recommendation
B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
Deadly storm slams northern Texas town of Matador, leaves trail of destruction
Employers are upping their incentives to bring workers back to the office
Ophelia Dahl on her Radcliffe Prize and lessons learned from Paul Farmer and her youth
Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
Stephen tWitch Boss' Autopsy Confirms He Had No Drugs or Alcohol in His System at Time of Death
Atmospheric Rivers Fuel Most Flood Damage in the U.S. West. Climate Change Will Make Them Worse.
Homelessness rose in the U.S. after pandemic aid dried up