2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament: TV ratings down from 2024, still strong ahead of Final Four

In 2024, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament saw historic viewership, fueled by stars such as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers. This year’s TV ratings are down, but have still been strong heading into the Final Four.

The 2025 tournament is averaging 967,000 viewers across the first four rounds, according to data compiled by Sports Media Watch. That’s a 31% decrease from 2024, but still 47% higher than the 2023 tournament, meaning there’s still plenty of momentum heading into a star-studded Final Four this weekend.

This year’s Elite 8 averaged 2.9 million viewers on ESPN networks, which is down more than 50% from last year’s number of 6.2 million. However, it’s still a 34% increase from the 2023 Elite Eight – making this year’s round the second-most watched on record behind 2024.

UCLA’s victory over LSU on Sunday led the way in Elite Eight viewership, averaging 3.4 million viewers on ABC. It’s became the third-most watched Regional Final on record. Last year’s game between Iowa and LSU averaged 12.2 million while the following game between UConn and USC brought in 6.7 million.

Additionally, South Carolina’s thrilling comeback win over Duke also generated big numbers for ABC, averaging 3.1 million viewers. The Gamecocks pulled away in the final minutes to get the victory and head to another Final Four in the process. As for Monday’s games, UConn’s victory over USC – a rematch of last year – averaged 3.0 million, and Texas’ win against TCU averaged 2.3 million.

The Elite Eight success followed an average of 1.7 million viewers for the Sweet 16, per Sports Media Watch. That round also didn’t reach last year’s top figure of 2.4 million, but it still became the second-most watched Sweet 16 in history.

ESPN’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 success came even though one of the biggest names in women’s basketball was unable to suit up. USC star JuJu Watkins suffered a torn ACL in the second round, which knocked her out not only for the remainder of the tournament, but also likely for most of the 2025-26 season.

Still, high-profile stars such as Bueckers, Hailey Van Lith, Flau’jae Johnson and Lauren Betts remained in the field. Bueckers and Betts will square off Friday in the Final Four.

ESPN’s strong ratings through the first four rounds of the 2025 NCAA women’s basketball tournament set the table for an exciting Final Four. Texas will take on South Carolina in Friday’s opening game in Tampa, followed by UConn vs. UCLA. The winners will advance to Sunday’s national championship.

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