21 hours ago
Record 2.4 million watched Texas' win over Texas Tech in Game 3 of WCWS
The viewership numbers for women's softball, much like the right arm of Texas star Teagan Kavan, continue to be a rocket.
Texas' 10-4 win over Texas Tech in Game 3 of the Women's College World Series averaged 2.4 million viewers on ESPN and ESPNU. That's the most-watched NCAA college softball game ever. The game peaked at 2.7 million viewers.
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The entire Women's College World Series Finals averaged 2.2 million viewers to make it the most-watched WCWS Finals in history. That's up 13 percent from last year, which was the previous all-time high.
ESPN set viewership records for each game of the WCWS. Game 2 was the most-watched Game 2 Finals on record (2.1 million viewers), as was Game 1 (2.1 million viewers).
ESPN will have more detailed Series numbers Tuesday, including streaming numbers and which cities drew the highest household ratings. What is clear is that 2025 will come in as the most-watched Women's College World Series postseason (including all games) in history, topping the prior high in 2021.
This year's Women's World Series also included the most-watched non-finals WCWS game on record since 2015, when 2.2 million viewers tuned in for UCLA-Tennessee.
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Last year's WCWS Finals between Oklahoma and Texas averaged 2 million viewers. That was up 24 percent from 2023 and up 3 percent from the previous all-time high in 2015 (Florida/Michigan).
The win was Texas' first national title in softball after the Longhorns reached the championship stage three times in the last four years. It featured two of the sport's most prolific pitchers — Kavan and Texas Tech ace NiJaree Canady. Kavan allowed no earned runs throughout 31 2/3 innings pitched in the WCWS. She improved to 5-0 against Canady and was named Most Outstanding Player.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Sports Business, College Sports, Women's College Sports, women's sports
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