Iowa’s Elite 8 victory surpassed every NBA game on ESPN this season

The proof is in the pudding and there is no denying what the numbers say. The Iowa Hawkeyes are drawing in viewers and doing so at a massive rate. Their latest victory, the Elite Eight win over Louisville, proved that true.

All women’s basketball needed was the chance and it will shine like it is doing right now. The women’s game has the biggest and brightest stars in college basketball that are household names. That holds true when looking at the viewership of the Elite Eight game.

Iowa-Louisville reeled in a whopping 2.49 million viewers per Show Buzz Daily.

That’s notable because it’s a massive viewing audience, but it’s also notable because it’s a larger viewing audience than any 2022-23 NBA regular season game broadcast on ESPN.

Per Show Buzz Daily, the highest-rated NBA regular season game thus far this season on ESPN was the March 5 game between the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics. That game drew 2.14 million viewers.

The next-closest ESPN NBA regular season contest to Iowa-Louisville in the ratings was the Denver Nuggets versus Golden State Warriors contest all the way back during the NBA’s season-opening week on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. That game pulled in an average of 1.91 million viewers.

As a matter of fact, only the LSU-Miami Elite Eight contest failed to out-rate ESPN’s top NBA broadcast thus far this season. That contest still drew 1.89 million.

Ohio State versus Virginia Tech pulled in 2.23 million viewers, while South Carolina versus Maryland had an average of 2.16 million watching.

The game had star power in Caitlin Clark and Hailey Van Lith. It had high stakes with a spot in the Final Four up for grabs. It delivered big time and it is proof of the promotion of the women’s game being worth every single second.

For reference, the average NBA regular season game drew 1.6 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and TNT last season. This game cleared that number with ease. The Hawkeyes showed just how dominant they can be as a team and what the face of the game looks like on full display.

Here’s a look at how the Iowa-Louisville broadcast stacked up relative to some of the other weekend sports programming.

The overall viewership came in at just a hair under two and a half million viewers. That number in itself is truly incredible but may get dwarfed this Friday when Iowa takes on South Carolina for a shot at the title.

More!

Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano, McKenna Warnock break down Final Four win over South Carolina

Everything Lisa Bluder had to say after Iowa took down South Carolina in the Final Four

Sports stars, media react to Caitlin Clark's otherworldly Final Four performance

About last night! A look back at Iowa's historic win over South Carolina in pictures

National Championship Tidbits: Get to know the Hawkeyes' opponent, the LSU Tigers

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Story originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire