It’s time to amend the declaration that only the NFL can generate a massive live audience in these days of disintermediation.
The NFL can do it. Caitlin Clark can do it, too.
Monday night’s game between LSU and Iowa generated an audience of 12.3 million viewers, via Sports Business Journal. It’s an all-time record for a women’s college basketball game.
It also is a bigger number than the 2023 audience for Thursday Night Football on Amazon, which had 11.86 million weekly viewers, on average.
Yes, TNF is a streaming-only property. Regardless, a women’s college basketball game outperformed Thursday Night Football.
It will be interesting to see how high the numbers will go in the semifinal rounds against Connecticut and, if Iowa makes it, the championship. The rematch with LSU inflated Monday night’s number. Was that the ceiling, or the floor?
As noted by SBJ, the LSU-Iowa game also surpassed Sunday’s Purdue-Tennessee game in the men’s tournament, the final round of the 2023 Masters, four of the five 2023 NBA Finals games, and every game of the 2023 World Series.
It shows that women’s college basketball has arrived as a major sport. It also shows that star power delivers, and Iowa has it in Caitlin Clark.
Tags: Caitlin Clark LSU delivers bigger audience Thursday Night Footballs weekly average
