Women's NCAA championship TV ratings crush the men's competition
- Thread starter Tango Two
- Start date
All credit to the girls for sure.
Helps the media hyped 1 generational player in the final vs an undefeated team.
Oh and starting the men’s final at 9:20pm on a Monday doesn’t help viewership among casual fans.
Helps the media hyped 1 generational player in the final vs an undefeated team.
Oh and starting the men’s final at 9:20pm on a Monday doesn’t help viewership among casual fans.
Definitely need to re-visit the start time for the NC game. Just better overall story lines for the women's game and UCONN just destroyed the competition two years in a row - that didn't help.
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Perfect storm this year story line wise, and it was a more interesting game. And ABC mid afternoon on a Sunday vs 920PM on TNT on a Monday also helped.
Wonder if a championship Sunday format would work? 3 p.m. Women's NC, 6:30 p.m. Men's NC.
Championships on a Monday night after 9 on non broadcast channels is bound to have crap ratings. Why does the NCAA do it?
Also Caitlin Clark brought those viewers. She was fun to watch and along with all the provocative story lines made it a must watch. Highly doubt these numbers happen next year.
Also Caitlin Clark brought those viewers. She was fun to watch and along with all the provocative story lines made it a must watch. Highly doubt these numbers happen next year.
The Athletic had an article on this today and while the women's ratings had a huge spike this year, it was interesting to see the trend in the men's championship game ratings which have settled down at a level significantly below where they were about 5-6 years ago. The game has always been on Monday night so not sure that is the issue.
While I am not sure the women's viewing figures are sustainable at this level post Clark, they are clearly trending a positive direction while the men are trying hold a reduced level of viewers. It seems clear that some of the recent trends in the mens game on and off the court are contributing to this negative trend. Most notably the number of "star" players who stay one year is much higher in the mens game versus the women's.
While I am not sure the women's viewing figures are sustainable at this level post Clark, they are clearly trending a positive direction while the men are trying hold a reduced level of viewers. It seems clear that some of the recent trends in the mens game on and off the court are contributing to this negative trend. Most notably the number of "star" players who stay one year is much higher in the mens game versus the women's.
Don't the men's games ratings take a serious hit when on TNT instead of CBS?
Thanks for the explanation. On the surface, it's probably the biggest single day sporting event in the US after the Super Bowl. For it to not be on a Sunday afternoon drastically reduces the audience and commercial revenue potential. Then on top of that, it's not on ABC, NBC, Fox, or CBS. It kinda seems like they're leaving money on the table. But they wouldn't do that.
Big thanks to CC for making this happen
The women's game has progressed so much over the past decade +
Hoping for continued growth, and a rebirth of our own once proud program here on The Banks!!
The women's game has progressed so much over the past decade +
Hoping for continued growth, and a rebirth of our own once proud program here on The Banks!!
The chart in the article did not support that. It was more that the overall viewership had moved from the mid to high 20MM down to the mid to high teens. Seems like TNT gets the games maybe 1 out of every 4 years. If there was a network difference it was small compared to broader overall trend in viewership.
Great post. It's taken many years but I think the top women's team sports, like hoops and soccer will continue to grow as girls and women (and even some men) realize they don't have to just watch what hubby/boyfriend want to watch. Sure women's athleticism is much less, but the competition is still exciting to many - the NCAA run was exciting and the She Believes tourney was great fun to watch, especially the final against Canada. And yes the Clark spike isn't sustainable, but steady progress will continue, IMO. Happy to see it.
Depends on who's leaving money. The NCAA is making a lot of money off of the big contract with CBS and Turner. Turner paid a lot for the rights to get the final four every other year, and I'm sure are able to parlay that into higher cable carriage fees nationally.
I actually find the women's game, at least at that level, better than the men's. There is more ball movement and better passing. With all that being said next year I will watch the men's game and probably at most peak at a woman's game or 2.
I like the game, but the officiating kills it for me. Men's officiating can be bad, but women's officiating is frequently awful and rarely decent. There are so many blown calls that any close game almost comes down to a coin flip of which team got the shorter end of the stick.
Lots of explanations and excuses, except for the most obvious one: the state (quality) of play in men's college basketball is terrible. I noted this on the premium board a few weeks ago, along with a long list of 'problems' that I won't rehash here. But suffice it to say that many of us that were huge fans of the game during it's golden era, when Final 4's meant Magic vs Bird, a UNC team that started Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Sam Perkins, or a Big East showcase with Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullen (many of them 20+ year old juniors, by the way), aren't excited by 3-point shooting contests involving athletically-limited, one-skill players. Fix the game and people will watch.
Everyone is avoiding the elephant in the room..a generational player who also happened to be white. That’s not a racist statement and I’m not saying I agree with all the attention, but it’s a fact.
I mean, the most obvious (and correct) explanation is that it was a uniquely interesting women’s title game. Hell, I watched it and I haven’t watched a women’s game in like 15 years. The mens rating was up slightly from last year.
The non CC tournament game ratings while "up" from previous year's dismal numbers, are not in the same zip code as avg viewers men's tournament games are getting, round by round. She was a magnet for many reasons, some of which people don't like to admit. Regardless, I think their numbers plummet next season.
True. Network TV on a Sunday is so much more likely to draw many more eyeballs than TNT on late a Monday night. I’m surprised the NCAA men’s tournament lets CBS push the title game to their cable channel. CBS Network TV has almost 5 times the average viewership than TNT/TBS. Makes no sense.
It's in the contract that it alternates between CBS/Turner, because Turner kicked in a lot of money.
