If you read it, you probably know who Paige Bueckers is. You may also be familiar with Lauren Betts, Maddie Booker and Milaysia Fulwiley.
But Meg Aronowitz, a senior vice president for ESPN production and a point person for his female basketball coverage, cannot afford to make a similar assumption. When four games are broadcast on Friday (19:30 et), she and her colleagues ESPN must be satisfied at least partially an occasional viewer who could only watch one or two female basketball games every year.
“This is part of the tournament where we have to remind ourselves that a brand new audience will join us,” Aronowitz said. “I know it sounds very TV clichés, but we have to teach them who these stars are. I say to my people – repeat your best things. New viewers will tune in every round and we have to make sure we give people on Sunday to return on Sunday.”
We have achieved the most interesting parts of this tournament in terms of media examination. Why? Because of last year’s remote viewer. ESPN management knows that it will not be possible to duplicate the numbers of the last four spectators a year ago – and this is the direct result of Caitlin Clark, which is not in this tournament. Iowy’s victory over UConn in national semi -finals then set a new record for the most watched female university basketball games in history with an average of 14.2 million viewers. In the end, it ended with 18.9 million viewers who watched the title game between Iowa and South Carolina. Yes, there are plenty of popular players in women’s basketball, but only one unicorn viewer – the Iowy boy with an unlimited series.
However, this year’s figures are data points that talk about the growth of women’s basketball basketball. Elite eight games were 2.9 million viewers, the second most followed by the elite round in the record, only with infusion numbers (6.2 million viewers) from last year. Elite eight games in 2025 increased by 34 percent since 2023.
• LSU-CULA (3.4 million spectators, no. 3 ELITE EIGHT GAME All-TIME)
• Duke-SC (3.1 million, No. 4)
• UCONN-CCC (3.0 million, No. 6)
• TCU-TEXAS (2.3 million, No. 9)
Sweet 16 rounded 1.7 million viewers across ESPN networks, the second most watched by Sweet 16 on the record last year (on average 2.4 million viewers) and 39 percent since 2023.
The second round of the women’s tournament was 982,000 viewers, the second second second round in the record behind the average of 1.4 million viewers last year. Since 2023 it was 60 percent.
The first round of the female tournament was 367,000 spectators. This is 22 percent of 471,000 last year (as expected without Clark), but 43 percent since 2023.
He will head to Final Four, all games on average reached 967,000 spectators, which is 47 percent since 2023.
“People came to the final of women last year because they wanted to see what Caitlin Clark would do,” Aronowitz said. “But it wasn’t just the Iowa games that were evaluated. The whole tournament evaluated for us and our task is to ensure that we can continue to tell the stories of teams and these students-sports students and give people a reason to stick to people.”
ESPN will focus on a ton of Bueckers this weekend because the stars attract people in. The Uconn star had 40 points in Sweet 16 over Oklahoma and 31 points against USC. He average 29 points per game at the tournament.
We will never know, due to the devastating injury of ACL for USC Star Juju Watkins, but you can imagine that the Eight Eight game with a healthy Watkins and Bueckery could become the most watched elite game in history.
“Everyone is talking about Paige,” Aronowitz said. “It’s not” Paige Bueckers. “It’s just” Paige “. When you get to where you are just baptismal, you know, gentlemen, people are beginning to pay attention.
(For Watkins Aronowitz fans, the ESPN basketball group will focus on the documentation of her return. Aronowitz said: “We will document her way to heal and we can’t wait for the time she has spring in her step.
Since ESPN has seen more success at the Final Four, investment in technology is increasing. Aronowitz said this year’s Final Four will be in a high dynamic range (HDR), the first for a female game. The production has a total of 45 cameras, including more super slow and high cameras at speed than ever.
These are all signs of growth. An interesting number for me will be, as the finals four and the title game compositions not against 2023, but the title game 2022, which we can call “PTC Era” (before caitlin). This title HR-64-49 victories in South Carolina over Bueckers and Uconn-Resched 4.85 million viewers. At that time, it was the most watched female title match since 2004 and the fourth largest audience that watched the female championship since 1996. The National Semifinals of UConn-Stanford brought 3.23 million viewers, which was the most watched female semifinal games in the PTC era.
These are the numbers that need to be defeated – and I think this final four and the championship will do it comfortably.
(Photo: Alika Jenner / Getty Images)
