This year the women’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) March Madness tournament viewership rate went down 51% from the previous year, when there was a surge in popularity
This year the winners of March Madness were the University of Florida for the men’s tournament and University of Connecticut for the women’s tournament. Many people online and on social media believe that the decrease of viewership was due to last year’s senior class graduating and moving on to play professionally. According to Sports Business Journal, they stated that the increase in viewership last year was associated with rising stars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Kate Martin and Nika Mühl who all gained fame throughout college. On the men’s side, the viewership rates stayed relatively consistent with 14 million viewers both this year and last year. Freshman Andrew Blume, who has played basketball throughout middle school and is part of the freshman boys basketball team, had some opinions on this year’s tournament.
“This year [the tournament] was not that good,” Blume said. “Other years were better, this year was mid.”
This year, the NCAA tournament took place in Tampa, Fla. for the women and San Antonio, Texas for the men. The highest viewed game in both of this year’s tournaments was the men’s national championship between Florida and Houston. Even though this year’s tournament racked up millions of views, the viewership rates were slightly lower than years past. This year, the men’s Final Four included all four No. 1 seeds, which have caused some people to say that it was predictable. Grind City Media explained how this year was the “most predictable Final Four ever.” This could be one of the reasons the rates of viewership were slightly lower this time around. Social media outlets have also been putting a bright spotlight on college basketball recently, which is one of the ways the tournament is advertised. Sources, such as ESPN, Overtime and Overtime Women’s Basketball, Bleacher Report, as well as single influencers have put focus on both tournaments, but some believe that there was more focus on one tournament than the other.
“I think the media is more focused on the men’s tournament,” Blume said. “All of the videos I’ve seen have been all about the men’s and those cool highlight reels.”
Despite the increased media coverage, many of the games this year lacked viewership. The most viewed NCAA tournament game of all time took place in 2015 between Wisconsin and Duke men’s basketball teams. In 2015, there was media coverage on the game, but not to the same extent as we see today. On the women’s side, in recent years, women’s basketball has become mainstream, whereas before, it was looked down upon. Many women’s basketball players have gained hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, including Paige Bueckers, Cameron Brink, Angel Reese, KK Arnold, Juju Watkins and Caitlin Clark. Freshman basketball player Meadow Long has been following the patterns of women’s basketball.
“It definitely positively impacted the growth of women’s basketball,” Long said. “Now [the players’ skill] has more awareness and more people are able to see the talent that comes from women.”
Women’s college basketball is now getting similar viewing rates as the men’s nowadays, but it brings up the question of how the views will translate to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Since their college basketball is gaining popularity, the WNBA may have the chance to grow.
“I think people will [start watching] the WNBA, with the hype and whatnot carrying over from [college basketball],” Blume said.
For the WNBA, the most viewed game had 3.3 million views, whereas the most viewed women’s college basketball game had 24.1 million views. On the contrary, for the men, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has almost always gotten more views than men’s college basketball. The most viewed NBA game racked up 55.9 million viewers, while the most viewed men’s college game only had 35.1 million views. The views of NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments have been fluctuating over the years. This year, the steady viewership and media coverage have kept the views up to par with years past.
“I feel like the NCAA Tournament will keep increasing and gaining popularity as more people see the talent coming from these players,” Long said.
