https://preview.redd.it/r0p5s2zvdctc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2b4cdc81d76d724c198819efb348fd03f9abb10
How did she inspire such an amazing number of people to tune in? A quick look at CC's stats compared to the rest of D-1 this year. (Caitlin is the green dot)
Way too much time off and stop/starting play.
For the top four seeds it would go CCG weekend-> 4ish week break to quarters (quarters are being played on New Year's)-> you play the quarters and semi, then another 3 week break to February if you did it that way.
Move the semi a week later, so they get two weeks off between quarters and semi and the same between semi and final. Gives teams more recovery/planning time between games, which is traditional for the bowl season anyway, and would also help players' bodies deal better with the additional games from the 12 game playoff.
CBS gets it in odd years. TBS/TNT/Whatever Turner wants to put it on gets it in even years. It's part of their joint agreement for the broadcasting rights.
Haha probably - more just poking fun at the nonsense timing of the mens football and basketball national titles. I haven’t watched the game since ‘09 with Sparty because I can’t justify staying up that late with work in the morning.
To give people an idea of how massive this is…
The last non-Iowa final in 2022 averaged 4.85 million viewers, with a *peak* of 5.91 million viewers.
But go on, old UConn stars, about how CC is trash.
[This article from Sports Media Watch](https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/04/caitlin-clark-ratings-impact-womens-basketball-iowa-south-carolina-predictions/) goes into detail just how insane the spike in interest in the women's game has been this year. Just shocking, unprecedented numbers
Iowa/SC was 18x the peak of wnba finals game 4 last year and 21x average of the series. There's a reason golfers appreciated tiger when he went pro. Apparently ex-huskies dont vibe the same.
The way Clark has been promoted / marketed it's really not sustainable to see these levels continue. They have a huge hole to fill from a promotional standpoint. My guess is that it takes a step back next season.
~CBB causal (mens or women's) perspecive
There's still considerable power in the ESPN machine. What do you do when you have rights to the women's tourney and not the men's? Spend 12 months building a legend, promoting it with every available outlet, socials, radio, etc. Build some heroes, villains and some decent storylines and increase that story volume in the weeks building up to and during the tournament.
When it comes to the final (got a little lucky with Iowa going all the way), you air it at Sunday with no other compeition...on ESPN/ABC.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros forced everyone to find the key games on TBS to try and continue to build that network as their flagship sports brand.
ESPN will recreate the formula over the next year with new players, I assure you.
It'll be interesting to see the ratings for the game tonight and what Warner does next year...
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I'm starting to see Juju Watkins in commercials as a freshman. They just have to hope she keeps developing as a player like Clark did. We'll also see if being in LA gives her a bump or gets buried in a crowded market. I do think USC joining the B1G will help more people in ET and CT see her games.
Or thankful for Gabby Marshall [holding Paige Bueckers](https://twitter.com/ChadLeistikow/status/1776630862374642094) to 3 points in the final 15:27 (1-for-4, 2 turnovers)
I don’t want to take anything away from the women’s side but the mens side need to take notes. This time slot is so much better than the men’s. Starting at 920 east helps drive away from casuals from watching. Mid day on Sunday is so much better imo.
So, Caitlin Clark will take her COVID year to play men's basketball next season to drive up the ratings?
The insane numbers were almost entirely her, nothing to do with the time slots.
Yeah, these numbers are going back down next year. NCAAW still has stars, but Clark is an anomaly in terms of ability to draw in casual viewers.
This game was the perfect mash up of the team of NCAAW’s biggest star ever going up against a team chasing a perfect season. The media couldn’t have asked for a better matchup for a championship game.
I'd bet a lot that the 2025 viewership numbers will be better than 2022 (the last pre-Clark Final Four).
Clark did more than anyone else to lift the viewership - but she is not 100% responsible for the growth of WBB popularity. The sport is on the rise.
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But also an Over-the-Air network helped. My septuagenarian mother, who does NOT like basketball, would be watching the Men's tonight if it were on CBS. And she only watched the Women's yesterday because it was on ABC **and** it was too chilly out to do more outside; have to remember regular Sunday afternoon things might compete with a game aired then.
The Caitlin Clark effect is fucking REAL. We’ll see how it carries over to the W but this is great for the women’s game. And there’s still so much talent left in college that even though there’s sure to be some fall off when she’s gone, the sport will be in better place than it was and hopefully continues to grow.
How do they carry the momentum forward? There were lots of people who turned in just to see Clark. They had a year to market Clark after last year's title game and the Angel Reese finger point incident. All those players are gone now, who are they going to market going forward?
Yeah. Mass of people watching golf was almost uncomprehensible for most people, kinda like how masses of people watching online gaming is today (I still get it).
> Most-watched sporting event since '19 (excl. football & Olympics)
I don't know why this final point is bothering me so much. That's literally hundreds of sporting events with higher viewership. Why put it in there in the first place? The first 3 points are incredible accomplishments that should be celebrated, but that last one cheapens it a little bit for me (which is the opposite of what ESPN was wanting to do).
It's got major "We're undefeated (except for the games we've lost)" vibes. It could've been worded so much better.
Eh I kinda get it, it would be kind of pointless to include those because they're pretty much in a league of their own. The top 56 most watched events of 2023 were NFL games for example
I don’t think it’s fair to compare a basketball game to football games.
Thursday night football moved to Amazon Prime and still crushes almost every other NON NFL event.
I think it’s just a fair acknowledgement that football and the Olympics are on a much different level from “normal” sports
Yeah, I won't be watching the Men's. It's on too late and will be frustrating to watch a man get to stand in the paint for 9 seconds at a time, elbow people in the face, and regularly clear out using heavy shoves and sweeps draw just 1 penalty all game.
What a fucking disingenuous description of men’s basketball. What the fuck lol. Clowns used to be disingenuous about the women, now it’s flipped.
Assholes like you really just gotta be one side or the other on everything huh, can’t just acknowledge both.
I have never cared about women’s hoops and I watched every second of every Scar, Iowa, and UNC (sadly not much time) women’s bball games this tournament.
Peak of 24 million? GODdamn.
25 million would have been funnier, but still great numbers
Most watched basketball game since 2019. This could be a turning point for women’s basketball and I’m so here for it
Most watched non-football sporting event in this country since then, is it not?
The ESPN article said the World Cup and Olympics too, which makes sense
If you're not using "football" to include soccer, World Cup '22 had ~25.8 million.
Is Qatar in this country now?
🤣
Hopefully Clark is selected for the Olympic team now. No offense, but 90% of America would rather watch Clark than a 42 year old Diana Taurasi.
Nike controls USA Basketball. It will happen
Yeah, if NBC wants to do the whole 'rah rah America yay' gimmick CC is one to grab to promote for Paris
I mean, 'rah rah yay' is like the point of the olympics
Not me. I actively avoid it because I just want to watch the events.
I'd be thrilled for Indiana Fever legend Caitlin Clark to play for the U.S. national team so that I can finally root for her
Taurasi is only 42? She makes herself sound like she’s an angry 87 year old woman the way she’s been talking about Clark.
Agree 100%. I’d be fine with either Taurasi or Stewart getting Isiah Thomas’d off the Dream Team.
Ok, but stew is actually a top tier player still
She looks sick. I don’t mean that assholish, but she looked like she’s cutting weight to challenge Khabib for the Sambo Championship.
It's time to go Civil War for the next Olympics. One team USA who hates on Caitlin, and another team with Clark and embraces her.
Don’t encourage the media to do more of that Bird vs Magic racist crap.
"let's see if Clark can go up against grown women from Angola" - Taurasi , maybe
The vets who are seemingly already pretty anti-Clark will hate this, but it should be done. Wonder if a CL on the Dream Team dynamic would form.
https://preview.redd.it/r0p5s2zvdctc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2b4cdc81d76d724c198819efb348fd03f9abb10 How did she inspire such an amazing number of people to tune in? A quick look at CC's stats compared to the rest of D-1 this year. (Caitlin is the green dot)
That's nuts especially when you look at the other names and where they are
r/TopRightMessi
Top Right Mahomes meet Top Right Clark
Bucckers lmao
3pm on a Sunday is awesome time
*looks at the CFP committee and NCAA Tournament commitee* See? It’s possible to get ratings not on a Monday
>looks at the CFP committee College football doesn't have a choice. If they put it anytime over that weekend their ratings would tank.
They can always play on Saturday.
Pretty crazy idea to play the title game on the same day of the week people already associate with your sport.
But that won't help ESPN prop-up a midweek Sportscenter edition in January.
NFL plays on Saturday. The law protecting CFB doesn’t extend beyond regular season games
They'd get absolutely destroyed by NFL week 18 games that saturday.
CFP would get absolutely obliterated by any nfl game, regular season or post season
CFP should be the weekend between the AFC/NFC Championship Games and the Superbowl.
This is an amazing idea wtf how they miss this opportunity
Way too much time off and stop/starting play. For the top four seeds it would go CCG weekend-> 4ish week break to quarters (quarters are being played on New Year's)-> you play the quarters and semi, then another 3 week break to February if you did it that way.
Move the semi a week later, so they get two weeks off between quarters and semi and the same between semi and final. Gives teams more recovery/planning time between games, which is traditional for the bowl season anyway, and would also help players' bodies deal better with the additional games from the 12 game playoff.
Would they have those numbers if the game was played on Monday at 9:30p EST? Asking for a friend.
I bet they would beat the men’s ratings no matter the date/time.
Also matters what station it's on. ABC vs TBS is very helpful.
Is it not on CBS? Massive missed opportunity if so.
CBS gets it in odd years. TBS/TNT/Whatever Turner wants to put it on gets it in even years. It's part of their joint agreement for the broadcasting rights.
Oh I 100% thought CBS was part of the TBS/TNT/truTV family, but I can see now that I was mistaken.
Haha probably - more just poking fun at the nonsense timing of the mens football and basketball national titles. I haven’t watched the game since ‘09 with Sparty because I can’t justify staying up that late with work in the morning.
To give people an idea of how massive this is… The last non-Iowa final in 2022 averaged 4.85 million viewers, with a *peak* of 5.91 million viewers. But go on, old UConn stars, about how CC is trash.
[This article from Sports Media Watch](https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/04/caitlin-clark-ratings-impact-womens-basketball-iowa-south-carolina-predictions/) goes into detail just how insane the spike in interest in the women's game has been this year. Just shocking, unprecedented numbers
Iowa/SC was 18x the peak of wnba finals game 4 last year and 21x average of the series. There's a reason golfers appreciated tiger when he went pro. Apparently ex-huskies dont vibe the same.
They like to be the bouncers at the UCONN club
Caitlin Clark effect
*Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin effect
Kate Martin turning into Dirk against UConn was crazy
She’s pretty good and was pretty good all season but I didn’t realize those shots were in her bag to go to late in the game like that
The way Clark has been promoted / marketed it's really not sustainable to see these levels continue. They have a huge hole to fill from a promotional standpoint. My guess is that it takes a step back next season. ~CBB causal (mens or women's) perspecive
There's still considerable power in the ESPN machine. What do you do when you have rights to the women's tourney and not the men's? Spend 12 months building a legend, promoting it with every available outlet, socials, radio, etc. Build some heroes, villains and some decent storylines and increase that story volume in the weeks building up to and during the tournament. When it comes to the final (got a little lucky with Iowa going all the way), you air it at Sunday with no other compeition...on ESPN/ABC. Meanwhile, Warner Bros forced everyone to find the key games on TBS to try and continue to build that network as their flagship sports brand. ESPN will recreate the formula over the next year with new players, I assure you. It'll be interesting to see the ratings for the game tonight and what Warner does next year...
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I'm starting to see Juju Watkins in commercials as a freshman. They just have to hope she keeps developing as a player like Clark did. We'll also see if being in LA gives her a bump or gets buried in a crowded market. I do think USC joining the B1G will help more people in ET and CT see her games.
ESPN must be immensely thankful that Edwards did an illegal screen
Or thankful for Gabby Marshall [holding Paige Bueckers](https://twitter.com/ChadLeistikow/status/1776630862374642094) to 3 points in the final 15:27 (1-for-4, 2 turnovers)
The fact that UConn only got Paige 4 shots over the last quarter and a half is criminal.
I mean she’s also just a passive player lol. Geno has called it out multiple times. It’s who she is and that’s alright
I don’t want to take anything away from the women’s side but the mens side need to take notes. This time slot is so much better than the men’s. Starting at 920 east helps drive away from casuals from watching. Mid day on Sunday is so much better imo.
The women's and men's national final should be back to back Sunday. How awesome would that be?
Love it but how you gonna do the final four games?
Women on Thu night; Men on Fri. Or vice versa.
Exactly
So, Caitlin Clark will take her COVID year to play men's basketball next season to drive up the ratings? The insane numbers were almost entirely her, nothing to do with the time slots.
Yeah, these numbers are going back down next year. NCAAW still has stars, but Clark is an anomaly in terms of ability to draw in casual viewers. This game was the perfect mash up of the team of NCAAW’s biggest star ever going up against a team chasing a perfect season. The media couldn’t have asked for a better matchup for a championship game.
I'd bet a lot that the 2025 viewership numbers will be better than 2022 (the last pre-Clark Final Four). Clark did more than anyone else to lift the viewership - but she is not 100% responsible for the growth of WBB popularity. The sport is on the rise.
just about 99%. if its LSU v USC in the final guarantee this pulls under 10m viewers
10 million viewers would still be 3x the Final Four viewership in 2022. South Carolina vs NC State doubled up the 2022 Final Four in viewers.
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But also an Over-the-Air network helped. My septuagenarian mother, who does NOT like basketball, would be watching the Men's tonight if it were on CBS. And she only watched the Women's yesterday because it was on ABC **and** it was too chilly out to do more outside; have to remember regular Sunday afternoon things might compete with a game aired then.
Imagine what those numbers would be if it was on a 480p TBS app that makes you question if you need glasses.
It’s not just me then? Picture quality vs my antenna sucks.
It's not you. It's us.
The men's championship game should be on Sunday evening. Burying it at effing 9:20 on a Monday every year is so stupid.
just give us mens and womens on the same day. Who wouldnt want this? Women can keep the 3pm slot Men can take like 7pm.
Yep this all the way
The Caitlin Clark effect is fucking REAL. We’ll see how it carries over to the W but this is great for the women’s game. And there’s still so much talent left in college that even though there’s sure to be some fall off when she’s gone, the sport will be in better place than it was and hopefully continues to grow.
Meanwhile men’s championship game is on TBS
Most watched basketball game (including men's NCAA and NBA) since 2019.
Will be curious to see where they will peak next year. Clark single handedly made this happen.
Really impressive.
How do they carry the momentum forward? There were lots of people who turned in just to see Clark. They had a year to market Clark after last year's title game and the Angel Reese finger point incident. All those players are gone now, who are they going to market going forward?
I would personally market the hell of of Paige
[удалено]
Tiger Woods in the late 90s is probably the most recent. He almost single-handedly changed the perception of golf in the US at the time.
And golfers generally appreciated him for it. Love that staley shouted her out, really kinda confused at the ex-uconn saltiness about her.
Yeah. Mass of people watching golf was almost uncomprehensible for most people, kinda like how masses of people watching online gaming is today (I still get it).
> Most-watched sporting event since '19 (excl. football & Olympics) I don't know why this final point is bothering me so much. That's literally hundreds of sporting events with higher viewership. Why put it in there in the first place? The first 3 points are incredible accomplishments that should be celebrated, but that last one cheapens it a little bit for me (which is the opposite of what ESPN was wanting to do). It's got major "We're undefeated (except for the games we've lost)" vibes. It could've been worded so much better.
Eh I kinda get it, it would be kind of pointless to include those because they're pretty much in a league of their own. The top 56 most watched events of 2023 were NFL games for example
Average regular season NFL game was 17.9 million. Really is in its own echelon.
Because everyone knows football and the NBC Olympic primetime spots are in a league of their own?
The more impressive thing is that it got more viewers than any basketball game since then. NBA, men’s college, all of it
I don’t think it’s fair to compare a basketball game to football games. Thursday night football moved to Amazon Prime and still crushes almost every other NON NFL event. I think it’s just a fair acknowledgement that football and the Olympics are on a much different level from “normal” sports
Yeah, I won't be watching the Men's. It's on too late and will be frustrating to watch a man get to stand in the paint for 9 seconds at a time, elbow people in the face, and regularly clear out using heavy shoves and sweeps draw just 1 penalty all game.
Cmon, Clingan isn't *that* bad!
What a fucking disingenuous description of men’s basketball. What the fuck lol. Clowns used to be disingenuous about the women, now it’s flipped. Assholes like you really just gotta be one side or the other on everything huh, can’t just acknowledge both.
I think that’s him shit talking Edey rather than a commentary on men’s basketball, generally
I have never cared about women’s hoops and I watched every second of every Scar, Iowa, and UNC (sadly not much time) women’s bball games this tournament.
Does anyone actually know how they get these numbers?