ESPN and ABC introduced a national women's tournament broadcast structure in 2021 to match the men's event.
"Broadcast, over the air coverage, had been lacking," observed Sports Media Watch's Jon Lewis. ESPN gambled that the women's game had reached a tipping point and that regional broadcasts or ESPN 2 were constraining growth.
“ESPN’s a business—there’s no charity involved,” Lewis remarked. If the women's Final Four is popular on ESPN 2, they wonder how many more it could get on ESPN.
Due to professional eligibility restrictions, the women's game is producing more stars than the men's game, which has corresponded with increased coverage.
“The men's front-line stars aren't sticking around as much as the women's game,” Portnoy said. “That helps the women’s game.”
Lewis said the men's game may be losing stars, but there's less structural need for them to draw attention. This year, the dearth of male-dominated powerhouses like Duke or Kentucky reaching the final rounds has also slowed ratings growth.
He added Clark's college career's conclusion could mean this year's women's tournament viewership peaked. Meanwhile, a new viewership floor has been set and networks have realized that women's game audiences might be massive.
"Between the growth underway before Caitlin Clark, and the growth attributable to Caitlin Clark — I don’t see us going back to the era where it averaged fewer than 3 million viewers," he said. "So there's a new permanent higher bar for this tournament going forward."
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