ESPN Delivers Most-Watched NCAA Division I Women's College World Series on Record

· Most-watched NCAA WCWS Finals on record with 2.2 million viewers

· Championship Series Game 3 is most-watched NCAA softball game ever with 2.4 million viewers

· Overall, the WCWS was up 24% from 2024 season

· NCAA Softball Tournament finishes up 2% YoY

The 2025 NCAA Women's College World Series was one for the history books, as ESPN's presentation continued to showcase the growing popularity of the sport - from the first pitch in Oklahoma City through the championship dogpile.

The WCWS Finals, featuring Texas and Texas Tech, averaged 2.2 million viewers across linear as the Longhorns claimed their first national championship in the first three-game series since 2021. The 2025 WCWS Finals were the most watched on record and up 13% year-over-year from 2024's previous all-time high.

Game 1 of the WCWS Finals scored 2.1 million viewers, ranking as the most-watched WCWS Finals Game 1 ever. Wednesday's game was up 11% year-over-year and peaked with 2.8 million viewers as the Longhorns completed the come-from-behind victory. At the time, this marked the fifth most-watched college softball game ever on ESPN platforms and was the top cable telecast of the day among females 18-49.

Across ESPN and ESPNU, the second game of the WCWS scored 2.1 million viewers, the most-watched Finals Game 2 on record. The in-state battle surpassed Game 1 to sit as the fifth most-wanted college softball game ever on ESPN platforms and was up 5% from the Red River Rivalry in 2024. Thursday's game peaked at 2.6 million viewers and was the most-watched cable telecast of the day among people 18-49.

The Championship Series finale shattered the record book as the game averaged 2.4 million viewers. This goes down as the most-watched NCAA DI college softball game on record and helped ESPN win the night in primetime across broadcast and cable telecasts among females 18-49, 18-34 and 2-17. The previous high was 2.3 million for the 2007 WCWS Game 3 Final between Arizona and Tennessee.

Overall, the WCWS was up 24% from 2024, averaging 1.3 million viewers across 15 games on ESPN platforms. This marks the most-watched WCWS ever, surpassing 2021's previous all-time high.

A total of eight games surpassed the million-viewer mark, led by UCLA/Tennessee on June 1, which garnered 2.2 million viewers - with a peak of 3.9 million, to deliver the best non-Finals WCWS on record. The walk-off win for the Lady Vols also marked the best audience for a WCWS game in a decade.

Oklahoma/Texas (1.7M), Oklahoma/Texas Tech (1.6M), Oregon/Oklahoma (1.2M) and Texas Tech/UCLA (1.0M) were the additional pre-finals games that eclipsed a million viewers.

Throughout the course of the entire WCWS, ESPN+ viewership was up 10% YoY.

#RoadtoWCWS Viewership Success

The entire three-week NCAA Tournament averaged 591,000 viewers across ESPN linear platforms, up 3% year-over-year. That marks the best NCAA Softball Tournament audience since 2021.

· Super Regionals
· The top 3 games of the 2025 NCAA Softball Super Regionals include:

· Tennessee vs. Nebraska (May 24) - 994,000 viewers

· ESPN's fourth-best Super Regional game on record

· Oklahoma vs. Alabama (May 24) - 957,0000 viewers

· Oregon vs. Liberty (May 24) - 807,000 viewers

· Regionals
· The top 3 games of the 2025 NCAA Softball Regionals include:

· Liberty vs. Texas A&M (May 18) - 518,000 viewers

· Texas vs. Michigan (May 17) - 484,000 viewers

· LSU vs. SE Louisiana (May 17) - 475,000 viewers
· ESPN+ viewership was up 5% year-over-year during the Regional round

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