March Madness: Women's tournament first and second round ratings up significantly in 2023

The NCAA women's tournament enjoyed a huge viewership boost in 2023, according to ESPN.

The network reported 257,000 average viewers watched the first round of the tournament — a 27% increase from 2022 — and the 875 million minutes watched set a record for ESPN. Four games topped 400,000 viewers and two — No.4 Tennessee's 95-50 win over No. 13 Saint Louis and No. 2 Connecticut's 95-52 win over No. 15 Vermont — eclipsed 600,000 on ABC.

The trend followed the men's tournament, which also saw a significant bump in ratings on its opening weekend of action.

As for the second round, ESPN reported 615,000 viewers — a 30% increase from 2022. Almost 1.5 million people watched the most-viewed second-round game when No. 2 Iowa's 74-66 win over No. 10 Georgia saw 1.457 million viewers this year. That's a 68 percent increase over last year's top-watched second-round game — No. 10 Creighton's upset win over No. 2 Iowa.

In total, the network saw a 28% increase in viewership over the first two rounds and 2.1 billion minutes — which unsurprisingly set a record.

Everybody loves upsets, and this year's tournament has been rife with some big ones. No. 10 Princeton, No. 10 Georgia, 11 Mississippi State, No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast and No. 12 Toledo all won their respective first-round games. Two No. 1 seeds — Indiana and Stanford — fell in the second round, too, marking only the second time in tournament history fewer than three top seeds reached the Sweet 16. Even No. 6 Colorado upended No. 3 Duke.

Some of the biggest names remain as the third round approaches. Caitlin Clark and Iowa, Aliyah Boston and defending champion South Carolina as well as Azzi Fudd and UConn. That should help with ratings as the tournament continues.