Iowa-Louisville Women’s Elite Eight Game Draws Record Audience

Millions of viewers tuned in to watch Caitlin Clark’s historic performance.

When Iowa’s Caitlin Clark produced one of the greatest performances in women’s NCAA basketball tournament history on Sunday night, it drew quite a TV audience.

According to Show Buzz Daily, Iowa’s upset victory pulled in a massive 2.49 million viewers.

To further put this audience in perspective, Sports Media Watch said that the average nationally-broadcast NBA regular-season game drew 1.6 million viewers last season.

Clark’s historic triple-double of 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds enabled No. 2 Iowa to beat No. 5 Louisville en route to the program’s first Final Four appearance since 1993.

The Elite Eight showdown drew far more viewership than both of last weekend's XFL games, while also beating the audience of Saturday night’s primetime NHL matchup featuring the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Women’s college basketball has witnessed record setting performances from Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist to Clark and others. Those talents will likely draw another big audience on March 31, when the women’s Final Four gets under way from American Airlines Center in Dallas.

AND THEN THERE WERE 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/7xU1SU4VTC

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 28, 2023

The first game on Friday will feature No. 1 Virginia Tech taking on No. 3 LSU as 1.5-point favorites, followed up by Iowa taking on South Carolina as 12.5-point underdogs.