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- Women’s College World Series Averages One Million Viewers
- Super Regionals Up 36%; Most Watched Since 2008
- Regular Season Up 40%; Most Watched Since 2016
ESPN’s college softball coverage saw double-digit viewership growth throughout the season scoring its most-watched Women’s College World Series production since 2015, most-viewed Super Regionals since 2008 and best regular season since 2016.
Women’s College World Series
ESPN’s coverage of this year’s 15-game Women’s College World Series tournament (May 30 – June 4) averaged one million (1,046,000) viewers up, 20% year-over-year. The two-game championship series (June 3-4) between the UCLA Bruins and Oklahoma Sooners averaged 1,574,000 viewers, up 13% year over year. The Bruins championship clinching game two win averaged 1,799,000 viewers, up 17% year-over-year. Game one of the championship series averaged 1,341,000 viewers, up 7% year-over-year.
The top-five local television markets for the WCWS Finals:
| Market | Rating |
| Oklahoma City | 8.3 |
| Tulsa | 7.1 |
| Birmingham | 3.0 |
| Austin | 2.2 |
| Los Angles | 2.1 |
The three game, Semifinals Sunday (June 2) averaged 1,340,000 viewers, up 43% over last year’s similar three-game slate, resulting in the most-watched semifinal Sunday since 2015. The entire 13-game, round robin (May 30-June 2) averaged 962,000 viewers, up 23% year-over-year. Six of the early round games averaged one million viewers or more:
| Date | Game | Network | Viewers |
| Sun, June 2 | Alabama vs. Oklahoma *Semifinal Sunday, Game 1 |
ESPN/ESPN2 | 1,430,000 |
| Sun, June 2 | Oklahoma vs. Alabama *Semifinal Sunday, Game 2 |
ESPN2 | 1,346,000 |
| Sun, June 2 | Washington vs. UCLA | ESPN | 1,276,000 |
| Sat, June 1 | Oklahoma State vs. Washington | ESPN | 1,261,000 |
| Fri, May 31 | Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State | ESPN | 1,058,000 |
| Sat, Jun 1 | Florida vs. Alabama | ESPN | 1,042,000 |
The Women’s College World Series saw an increase across all key demos. Of note:
- Men 18-34: up 45%
- Women 18-34: up 41%
- Men 12-17: up 75%
- Women 12-17: up 36%
Super Regionals & Regular Season
Super Regional coverage (May 23-26) averaged 510,000 viewers across 19 games, the most-watched Super Regional round since 2008, and up 36% year over year. Regular season games on ESPN’s Nielsen rated networks* were up 40% this season, with the 28 games on ESPN/ESPN2 (up from 23 last year) averaging 266,000 viewers per game.
Viewership for the ACC and SEC Conference Championship Games (May 11) was up significantly year-over-year and each saw its largest audiences since 2016:
- SEC Championship: Averaged 549,000 viewers, up 130% year-over year
- SEC Semifinals: Averaged 280,000 viewers, up 177% year-over-year
- ACC Championship: Averaged 480,000 viewers; up 41% year-over-year
*ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU
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