Texas-OU WCWS finals the highest-rated NCAA softball series ever on ESPN

AUSTIN (KXAN) — It was a great year for college softball on ESPN.

The cable sports giant released viewership numbers for their softball telecasts in 2024, and the Women's College World Series championship series featuring Texas and Oklahoma was the most-watched series on record, averaging 2 million viewers. The Sooners topped the Longhorns 2-0 in the best-of-three series to claim their fourth consecutive NCAA Division I softball championship. The first game averaged 1.9 million viewers while the second and title-clinching game for the Sooners averaged a little more than 2 million, making the first the highest-rated opening game on record, according to ESPN. The games were also a big hit on ESPN's streaming platform, ESPN+. The finals games were No. 2 and No. 3 all-time in viewership on the platform.

It was a 23% increase in broadcast audience from 2023 and was 3% more than the previously highest-rated WCWS finals in 2015 featuring Florida and Michigan. The entire WCWS averaged 1.1 million viewers, a 2% bump from last year. It was the most-watched WCWS since 2021 and the sixth-best audience of all time.

The Texas-Texas A&M super regional series averaged 776,000 viewers on ESPN2, making it the highest-rated super regional or regional game on record. Louisiana State and Stanford averaged 771,000 viewers.

The Big 12 Conference championship game between the Longhorns and the Sooners was the best on record with an average of 563,000 viewers. Oklahoma won that game 5-1. The Southeastern Conference championship game between Florida and Missouri drew an average of 470,000 viewers.

It was the most-watched super regional round since 2021 with an average of 519,000 viewers and the most-watched regular season with an average of 190,000 viewers. The regional tournaments turned in a 6% increase in viewership over last year with 258,000 viewers.

On ESPN+, regular season viewership was up 32% from last season.