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ESPN Sees Ratings Drop For UConn's Loss In Women's Final Four

ESPN earned a 2.2 overnight Nielsen rating for Sunday night’s Notre Dame upset of top-ranked UConn in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament national semifinal. That is down 15% from a 2.6 overnight for the comparable late-window UConn-Baylor semifinal last year. ESPN in the early window earned a 1.7 overnight for Texas A&M-Stanford, flat compared to Stanford-Oklahoma last year. Through the regional final of the tournament, ESPN was averaging a 1.1 U.S. rating and 1.373 million viewers for nine telecasts, up 22% and 24%, respectively, from a 0.9 rating and 1.104 million viewers through the same point last season. ESPN2 has averaged a 0.4 U.S. rating and 495,000 viewers for 16 telecasts through the regional finals, down 20% and 24%, respectively, from a 0.5 rating and 651,000 viewers, when the net had aired 15 games (THE DAILY). MULTICHANNEL NEWS' Mike Reynolds noted the net's ratings for tonight's Notre Dame-Texas A&M Finals matchup "likely collapsed" when UConn and Stanford lost in the Final Four. Stanford had been the only team to defeat UConn this season, but "instead of a rematch ... it's two bracket-busting" No. 2 seeds playing for the title. Reynolds wrote it "may be good for the long-term health of the sport that programs other than UConn (seven crowns) and Tennessee (eight under Pat Summit) contend for and win national championships," but viewers "may not take so kindly to the absence of the Huskies, Lady Vols and Cardinal brands on ESPN" tonight (MULTICHANNEL.com, 4/4). ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said, "I think casual fans tune in for UConn. I don't think Texas A&M is going to draw flies with casual fans" ("PTI," ESPN, 4/4).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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