WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: More viewers than Men's!!!
What the viewership numbers really mean
Let’s get this out of the way first: The men’s national championship game between UConn and Purdee averaged 14.8 million viewers, a teeny uptick from last year’s modern low of 14.69 million viewers — and four million fewer than Sunday’s women’s title game.
This is a huge talker this week. Let’s parse some reasons why these numbers are what they are:
In college, the women’s game is simply a better product than the men’s right now. And I’m not talking about the on-court play — y’all can argue about that — but the level to which we can invest in the personalities and stories.
Think of it like any TV show you love. In the women’s game, we’ve spent years — sometimes even four or five — with these superstar players. Game after game, episode after episode, building parasocial relationships with the best players in the sport. On the men’s side, the superstars largely aren’t even here, and when they are, we spend maybe 10 or 15 meaningful games with them. It’s hard to build momentum that way.
Another huge factor: exposure and investment. Women’s players have always stayed longer, but it wasn’t until recently that ratings changed, as our Richard Deitsch pointed out. Platform is important — the women’s title game was on ABC, while the men’s was on TNT/TBS/truTV. Also, NIL is a factor — Caitlin Clark is on our screens 24/7. That helps.
This is not a bad thing for anyone. It’s the reality of the larger landscape in both men’s and women’s basketball. Everyone is making money, and the game is more equitable than ever.
Maybe that changes next year when top recruits Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach arrive at Duke, but those guys are almost surely one-and-dones, too, right? Or maybe we actually get a challenger for UConn next season and, of course, maybe that’s Duke. And maybe this all changes with Clark gone, though the women still have Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins and Flau’jae Johnson.
From today's The ATHLETE
Executive Creative Director
2mo🏀