Caitlin Clark’s Record-Breaking Performance and the Surge in Women’s College Basketball Viewership
Caitlin Clark, a six-foot senior at the Iowa Hawkeyes, stands alone on her home floor with an audience of 15,000 fans and three million television viewers, transfixed by the moment. With a calm demeanor, she drains two free throws, effortlessly sinking them one after another (Fox Sports, 2023). These seemingly routine points surpassed the all-time college basketball scoring record for both men and women, propelling Clark into basketball’s hallowed halls.
This season has been nothing short of extraordinary for Clark, whose talent has fueled a remarkable surge in interest in the women’s game as March Madness kicked off this week. NBA star Steph Curry called her record-breaking performance “must-see TV” in an interview with CBS (CBS Sports, 2023). The viewership numbers appear to agree.
College women’s basketball has experienced one of its best regular seasons on record, with an average of 476,000 viewers tuning in to ESPN platforms (ESPN, 2023). The audience for women’s college basketball has increased by over 60% across all national networks and by more than 48% on games aired by ESPN, which is averaging a larger audience than its men’s counterpart (Fox Sports, 2023).
Jon Lewis, who has been tracking sports ratings on his Website Sports Media Watch since 2006, compares Clark to transcendent stars such as LeBron James and Michael Jordan. He explained that players like Clark draw viewers in a way that they don’t for others (Sports Media Watch, 2023).
Clark’s final-season statistics mirror those of Steph Curry during his standout year with Davidson. Clark currently averages 31.9 points per game and 38% from three-point range, while Curry averaged 28.6 points and 39% from deep during his record-breaking season (Bleacher Report, 2023).
The popularity of women’s college basketball cannot be attributed solely to “Clarkonomics” – as basketball analyst Debbie Antonelli called it (News Finder, 2023). Instead, this surge in interest is coinciding with the overall rise of women’s sports and their increased prominence.
Improved television coverage, such as featuring games on major networks and optimal time slots, has been a significant factor in the growth of women’s college basketball. Additionally, young female athletes have used the platform of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) to earn income from sponsorships (ESPN, 2023).
Iowa and Clark have featured in six of the ten most-viewed women’s basketball games this season, with all games earning over one million viewers (SportsMediaWatch, 2023). The most-viewed game this season eclipsed any women’s college basketball contest since 1999, attracting an audience of over three million viewers (SportsMediaWatch, 2023).
While Clark is captivating viewers, there are other factors contributing to the surge in women’s college basketball popularity. Melissa Isaacson, an assistant sports journalism professor at Northwestern, notes that last year’s championship introduced the country to Iowa’s Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese (NBC Sports, 2023).
Lewis also highlights the significance of increased media coverage for women’s sports. For instance, this is only the third year that the NCAA has used the “March Madness” branding for the women’s tournament (Fox Sports, 2023). He emphasizes that there’s “something real happening in the women’s game that’s not limited to Caitlin Clark and is unique even among women’s sports” (Fox Sports, 2023).
As of March 19, fans seeking tickets for the Final Four had purchased six times as many for the women’s final than for the men’s final (TickPick, 2023). College women’s basketball players are among the biggest players in the NIL market, with projected earnings reaching $60 million by the end of the third year (Opendorse, 2023).
Despite the popularity of college women’s basketball players like Clark, Reese, Cameron Brink, and Paige Bueckers, who all possess large followings, top men’s college basketball players, such as Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham, and Cody Williams, remain relatively less well-known (Instagram, 2023).
By making these deals possible through NIL, the platform has shed light on individuals and their sports. There was even speculation that Clark might choose to stay in college rather than enter the WNBA draft to retain her lucrative NIL deals (ESPN, 2023).
One factor driving this speculation was that the WNBA doesn’t have the same platform as women’s college basketball. The WNBA has historically had a smaller audience than college women’s basketball, in part due to its shorter existence (Lewis, 2023).
However, there is a precedent for college stars bringing large audiences with them to the WNBA. Five-time Olympic gold medalist, all-time WNBA scoring leader, and three-time WNBA champion Diana Taurasi’s first game in 2004 was the most-watched game on ESPN/ABC (Lewis, 2023). Similarly, three-time WNBA champion and two-time gold medalist Candace Parker’s first game in 2008 also attracted large audiences (Lewis, 2023).
With ticket prices for the Indiana Fever – the team eyeing Clark for its No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft – more than doubling, the crescendo to Clark’s college career may come in the form of a national title. If this result remains elusive, she will have transcended the college game and brought legions of newly engaged viewers along with her.
