Men’s vs Women’s Championship Ratings
- Thread starter Dawgg
- Start date
The Caitlin Clark effect. The perfect storm for women’s basketball. Best (or at least the most hyped) women’s player ever vs. an undefeated team coached by probably the best and most hyped coach in the game.
All Clark baby.
She was a truly captivating story for months and it was the perfect storm and great for women's sports
She was a truly captivating story for months and it was the perfect storm and great for women's sports
The men’s tourney still did good viewership numbers overall but yeah no denying that Clark had an enormous impact on her sport.
The men's was on TBS, I believe. May have been CBS also, but I don't think so.
They shot themselves in the foot, in my view.
They shot themselves in the foot, in my view.
I streamed both, but they were from traditional cable platforms.
Womens on ESPN and Mens on TBS.
Regardless of the platform for final games, it was an increase in viewership for both sports through the tournament and for the finals. Good- I hope that continues as more viewership usually means more support for easy streaming access.
Womens on ESPN and Mens on TBS.
Regardless of the platform for final games, it was an increase in viewership for both sports through the tournament and for the finals. Good- I hope that continues as more viewership usually means more support for easy streaming access.
Basketball is a star driven sport. The Men's game in college has no stars. There is no time to build a fan base. You used to have Scott May, Kyle Macy, Bobby Hurley, Christian Laettner, Ralph Sampson, Chris Jackson, etc. It is like watching minor league baseball. So unless you are rooting for the laundry, the only other reason to check it out to is to see who you might see at the next level. The tournament only works because it is an event and there are all those brackets.
The women build stars and it is showing.
The women build stars and it is showing.
The women’s championship was on ABC so that certainly helped it even more.
The women’s tournament couldn’t have asked for a better scenario with Clark and South Carolina in the championship game.
On top of having an Iowa/LSU rematch in the Elite 8 and Iowa/UConn in the Final. Literally played out perfectly for TV.
I know women’s was on ABC. Don’t know if there was a simultaneous ESPN broadcast, but that’d increase it in and of itself. ESPN has been fighting HARD for female viewership to expand capture rate. They’re not going to expand it with men. The real question is whether this translates into increased viewership of women’s sports next year. Is it a one time thing vs some kind of new, sustainable fan base
Yeah, I did not even think about the ESPN ABC relationship and simultaneous broadcasting. The rest of the tournament has been on ESPN network channels, and I watched the championship on the ESPN app, so that was top of mind.
You said it and I do think it a valid point like the men got “slot” in the foot.. my grandmother was trying to figure out which channel to watch the men’s game and perplexed why it was wasn’t on ESPN or a local network like CBS or ABC. I had to tell her where to watch it on TBS as she mostly sticks to her normal channels and streams some shows
The men’s tournament rotates between CBS and cable so next year it will be back on CBS.
Her first quarter scoring was phenomenal. Not sure why it stopped - maybe SC made some defensive adjustments during the break, or she just stopped shooting so much. Amazing how she could hit threes so consistently and from such a long distance.
Not to mention that both the men's and women's teams from NCState made the Final Four.
All Clark. Closest thing to a female version of Steph Curry. David vs Goliath effect. I’d bet 99% of that viewership tuned in for Clark and rooted for her and her team to win. Next year women’s ratings will go way way back down. Men will trend the same.
That’s the dumbest thing ever. Either it’s a big enough event for a prime network or it’s not. Why put it on a minor cable channel every other year?
Difference is that there was a LOT of substance to go with the “hype”
A lot of times all the “hype” leads to a loud “thud,” which didn’t happen in this case
But how is there not a lot more of it with a lot more viewers on a bigger network? Doesn’t seem sustainable.
This years Final Four had better ratings than last years and it was on CBS so apparently it is sustainable.
Clark vs the evil empire. It is why Alabama and Kentucky in football and basketball are so important to the sports media. Nobody hated UConn or Purdue. In fact, there was a lot of pity for Purdue after what happened to them last year. It is like wrestling. You've got to have a bad guy to pull against or for. I loved pulling for the Raiders when I was a kid. They were the bad guys of the NFL. It doesn't matter where it is broadcast (PPV excluded).
The men's tournament did not do itself any favors by starting too damn late. Start that at 8 Eastern 7 Central and it gets more eyeballs. Does the Superbowl start at 8 Eastern? No it starts around 6 Eastern. Too late for kids to watch the whole game.
And to put it in perspective. The women’s game drew more than any college football game outside of the Rose Bowl, The NC game, and the regular season OSU Michigan game. So more than the Sugar and SEC championship on ESPN and CBS. Those are the only 5 that drew more than the men.
I guess TNT sports is trying to grow.
There's a lot of truth to this. I watched the entire tournament, and outside of State's team, I think that I might be able to name 5 men's players from the other 67 rosters. Sheppard, Dillingham, Edey, and maybe a couple others if I think hard enough. In years past, I could name the entire starting 5 from a lot of these teams. There just aren't individual stars in the current game
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