ESPN2 Slams 29% Ratings Rise With Women’s 'Madness'
ESPN Picks Up Ball For Sweet Sixteen Hoops Action This Weekend
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 3/28/2008 10:01:00 AM
With ESPN2 netting a 29% jump in households with the two opening rounds, the women will tip their own “Sweet Sixteen” action this weekend, as ESPN picks up the exclusive coverage from its sister service.
The total sports network and its HD counterpart will present all eight of the NCAA Women’s Division 1 basketball regional semifinal games in national windows March 29 and 30. The schedule, starting at noon Saturday with Louisville against top-ranked North Carolina (the men’s teams have an Elite Eight engagement tomorrow on CBS), also calls for games at 2 p.m., 9 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. On Sunday, ESPN follows with contests at noon, 2:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The latter pits Notre Dame against the defending champion Tennessee Lady Vols, which have claimed seven crowns in all under coach Pat Summit.
As for the games March 22-25, ESPN2 in 12 windows registered a 20% gain in average household ratings to a 0.6, translating into a 29% increase in households to 546,000 from 423,000 for last year’s tourney, according to Nielsen Media Research data. For its part, ESPN recorded a 25% rise in average rating to a 0.5 and a 40% advance in households to 482,000 from 344,000 during its march 23 opening-round window at 2:30 p.m.
Online, ESPN.com, according to officials, saw a 27% increase in page views and 19% in visits for women’s tournament content, compared with the same period a year ago.
