The Iowa women’s basketball team continues to set viewership records. Just two days following its semifinal victory over UConn on April 5 — which set a women’s basketball record of 14.2 million views — the Hawkeyes not only blew that number out of the water in the title match against South Carolina but broke new marks among the professional ranks.

Broadcasted on ABC and ESPN, the battle between the Hawkeyes and Gamecocks garnered an average of 18.7 million eyeballs on Sunday and peaked at 24 million, per a press release from ESPN on Monday. The game was the most-watched basketball contest, men’s or women’s, professional or college, since 2019.

With the exception of football and the Olympics, the event was the most-viewed sporting event in the last five years.

Compared to last year’s women’s national championship game, a bout between Iowa and LSU, television audience numbers shot up by 89 percent. From 2022’s contest, the increase was 285 percent.

'24 #NCAAWBB Natl. Championship ended the season with a bang on ABC & ESPN

🏀18.7M viewers, peak 24M
🏀Up 89% from '23 & 285% from '22
🏀Most-watched basketball game (men's or women's, college or pro) since '19
🏀Most-watched sporting event since '19 (excl. football & Olympics) pic.twitter.com/0a4uwiOwgp

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 8, 2024

ESPN and its family of networks, which includes ABC, has televised every game of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament since 2003 and in January, extended its contract with the NCAA for eight more years. This is the second year in a row that the title game was broadcast on ABC.

“Sunday’s Iowa-South Carolina game was a fitting finale to the most-viewed NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “These exceptional athletes, coaches, and teams captured our attention in unprecedented ways and it’s incumbent on us to keep the incredible momentum going.”