Iowa-UConn sets record with 14.2M TV viewers

Field Level Media|published: 04/06/2024, 9:18pm EDT

Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) takes questions before practice for the NCAA Women's Final Four championship basketball game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Saturday, April 6, 2024 in Cleveland. credits: Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Iowa women's basketball team and Caitlin Clark continued their run of record ratings, as ESPN announced Saturday that Iowa's Final Four game with UConn on Friday evening set a record for a TV broadcast with 14.2 million viewers.

That number represents the largest audience ever for a women's college basketball game, breaking the record set by Iowa three days earlier in the Hawkeyes' 94-87 win over the LSU Tigers in the Elite Eight.

According to ESPN, Iowa's 71-69 victory over UConn peaked at 17 million viewers in becoming ESPN's largest audience for a basketball game of any kind, men's or women's, college or pro.

Overall, the game ranked higher in audience for the network than any non-football game ever.

The lead-in game for that one, NC-State vs. South Carolina, averaged 7.1 million viewers, independent of any Iowa/Clark effect, to become the third-best rated women's national semifinal on record.

Iowa will face undefeated South Carolina in the NCAA Championship Game on Sunday.

—Field Level Media