ESPN averaged 4.2 million viewers for Baylor’s 80-61 win over Notre Dame in Tuesday night’s NCAA women’s basketball national championship game, marking the most-viewed women’s title game since ’04 and fifth most-viewed since the net began airing the event in ‘96. The ’04 telecast on the net drew 5.6 million viewers for UConn’s win over Tennessee. Baylor-Notre Dame was also up 11% from 3.8 million viewers for Texas A&M-Notre Dame last year. For ESPN’s three women’s Final Four telecasts, the net averaged 3.6 million viewers, marking the most-viewed Final Four since ’04. The Final Four was also up 13% from 3.2 million viewers last year. Overall, the NCAA women’s basketball tournament was the second most-viewed ever for ESPN/ESPN2, averaging 1.8 million viewers, which was just behind last year’s record-setting numbers. The ’11 tournament across the two networks averaged 1.9 million viewers (ESPN).
| NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP VIEWERSHIP TREND SINCE ESPN ACQUIRED RIGHTS |
| YEAR | NIGHT | MATCHUP | VIEWERS (000) |
| '12 | Tues. | Baylor-Notre Dame | 4,244 |
| 11 | Tues. | Texas A&M-Notre Dame | 3,831 |
| '10 | Tues. | UConn-Stanford | 3,531 |
| '09 | Tues. | UConn-Louisville | 2,668 |
| '08 | Tues. | Tennesee-Stanford | 3,858 |
| '07 | Tues. | Tennesee-Rutgers | 2,918 |
| '06 | Tues. | Maryland-Duke | 3,587 |
| '05 | Tues. | Baylor-Michigan State | 3,235 |
| '04 | Tues. | UConn-Tennessee | 5,583 |
| '03 | Tues. | UConn-Tennessee | 4,369 |
| '02 | Sun. | UConn-Oklahoma | 5,681 |
| '01 | Sun. | Notre Dame-Purdue | 3,730 |
| '00 | Sun. | UConn-Tennessee | 3,676 |
| '99 | Sun. | Purdue-Duke | 5,137 |
| '98 | Sun. | Tennessee-Louisiana Tech | 3,943 |
| '97 | Sun. | Tennessee-Old Dominion | 4,586 |
| '96 | Sun. | Tennessee-Georgia | 3,515 |
