• by Wayne Friedman , April 8, 2024

The women's NCAA College Basketball Championship topped a new record with 18.7 million viewers in early Nielsen TV-measured viewing -- the highest ever for a women's U.S. basketball game and best ever for a college or pro, men's or women's basketball game since 2019.

Viewership in-game, airing on ABC and ESPN, topped the previous women's college basketball record of just two days before -- with Iowa's win over the University of Connecticut, which pulled in 14.2 million viewers.

And just a few days before that, Iowa prevailed over last year's champion LSU in the elite eighth round, posting 12.3 million viewers. LSU had held the previous record. 

All three of these games included Iowa's college star player Caitlin Clark, the all-time leader in college basketball scoring -- men's or women's.

Major brands advertising in the women's championship game included Nissan, Home Depot, Apple iPhone, Google, Capital One, Buick, AT&T Wireless, and Dick's Sporting Goods.

The women' championship game on Sunday was also the most-viewed basketball game since the 2019 NCAA Men's College Tournament title game -- which took in 19.63 million viewers.

By comparison, last year's NBA championship -- in which the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat four games to one -- earned a leading 13.1 million viewers in Game Four.

Overall, the series averaged 11.6 million viewers.