Another weekend of college basketball, and another brutal TV performance for Caitlin Clark.
Iowa State's come-from-behind win over Nebraska in the Big Ten women's basketball tournament final averaged 3.02 million viewers on CBS, making it the most-watched women's basketball game on CBS since UConn-Tennessee on January 10, 1999. The game peaked with 4.45 million viewers in overtime.
Sunday's game is now the second most-watched women's college basketball game this season behind last week's Iowa-Ohio State game on Fox, which drew 3.39 million viewers. It is the third most-watched regular-season women's college basketball game since 1999.
Two high-profile women's matches over the weekend also attracted huge viewership. ESPN drew 1.96 million viewers for the feisty matchup between South Carolina and LSU and 1.44 million viewers for USC's win over Stanford. Sports Media Watch said it was the largest women's regular season audience on ESPN networks since 2010.
Here's something to excite sports fanatics. Duke-Carolina men's games have long been the benchmark for regular-season college basketball viewers. These teams played on Saturday and drew 3.076 million viewers on ESPN. The Iowa-Nebraska game was just a shadow beneath that on Sunday and was the most-watched basketball game Sunday on any network.
According to Sports Media Watch, the women's Iowa-Nebraska game ranks fifth among all college basketball games — regardless of gender — this season behind the NFL's swelled Michigan-Arizona game on Thanksgiving (5.18 million), 3.39 million. Viewers watched the women's Iowa vs. Ohio State game and the men's Duke vs. North Carolina games.
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