1)The Last Dance ended its run on ESPN last weekend. Final results? 68M tuned into any episode of The Last Dance on linear TV.
...That’s staggering.
For context, in its first 3 months, Netflix’s Tiger King reached 41M viewers in the US*...
I know everyone is hyper-focused on NFL ratings right now, but a friendly reminder that Women’s College Basketball is quietly continuing the growth trend in women’s sports.
Season to date, Women’s College Basketball is pacing +46% in average viewership vs. last season.
Based on ESPN personalization data, the WNBA has seen the largest YoY growth (+47%) among sports with 1M+ favorites
Caitlin Clark led all players with +373% MoM growth to become the 4th most-favorited active athlete, only behind LeBron James, Tiger Woods and Steph Curry
Over 2 Million for women’s sports is a big deal. For context, outside of the NBA Playoffs, the WCWS now has the next 2 largest audiences on ESPN since the NFL Draft in April.
#WCWS Championship Series touts the most-viewed Game 2 on record
🥎 @OU_Softball vs @FSU_Softball Game 2 averaged 2,081,000 viewers | Up 14% over 2019's Game 2
🥎 Audience peaked at 2.6M viewers from 8:45-9p ET
FINALLY, my sports media dreams have come true.
The @nyknicks are once again a NATIONAL TV draw👏
✔️The Knicks/Clippers game drew 1.6M viewers
✔️The best ESPN NBA audience since Feb 28
✔️ ESPN's 5th highest NBA game (excluding Christmas)
How is it that ESPN is on pace for its most-watched CFB season in 7 years?
1. Greater conference parity with ratings growth of…
PAC 12 + 146%
Big 12 +32%
ACC +21%
2. The performance of Florida State, Colorado & Texas - responsible for 36% of min watched on ESPN
On ESPN the game averaged 419,000 viewers, 72% higher than ESPN’s 2019 WNBA Regular Season average, and 70% more than the total 2019 average. Yesterday’s game ranks as the 6th most-viewed opening day WNBA game on ESPN
Obviously, Iowa & Caitlin Clark have delivered record-breaking audiences in the early rounds of the tournament, but non-Iowa games are also up +74% YoY, signaling widespread momentum across the bracket
There is an old adage in research “one data point does not make a trend.” Well, how about SEVEN🤯
Over the last 90 days in Women’s sports
1.WCWS: Most Viewed EVER
2.NCAA Soccer Final: Most Viewed EVER
3.NCAA Gymnastic Final : + 510% vs 2019
Last night's Sun/Fever hit 1.56M -+353% vs. last season’s ESPN (E1) average.
It peaked with 2.97M viewers from 9:00pm – 9:14pm.
This is now the most-viewed WNBA game ever on ESPN
So far, two college football games (Notre Dame/Ohio State & Alabama/Texas) have surpassed 10M viewers.
This is the first time since 1994 that there have been 2 CFB games in September to average over 10M viewers.
