Numbers show $3.1 million NIL-valued Caitlin Clark's impact has led to women's basketball surpassing men's basketball in viewership

Caitlin Clark, without a doubt, transcends the landscape of college basketball. Clark announced last week that she would enter the 2024 WNBA Draft after the season. Her goal is to lead Iowa back to the women's national championship after losing it to LSU in 2023.

After Clark surpassed Pete Maravich and became the all-time leading scorer of the NCAA, her popularity rose to its zenith, and she became an added jew to the crown.

On FOX Network this season, viewership for women's college basketball surpassed that of men's NCAA hoops, especially after the intense Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Ohio State game last weekend.

Michael Mulvihill, president of insights and analytics at Fox Sports, states that women's basketball games have an average of 981,000 viewers this season, while men's games have only 946,000 viewers.

For the last two seasons with the Hawkeyes, Clark, whose NIL valuation stands at $3.1 million per On3, has been a major draw.

For women's college basketball fans, programs like LSU, UConn and South Carolina continue to be major draws, but Clark and Iowa are unmatched. The rivalry within their conference only serves to heighten the excitement surrounding every match.

The night of Caitlin Clark, which drew over 4 million views

Caitlin Clark's historic performance against Ohio State on Sunday was a major TV event, attracting more than 4 million viewers at its peak.

The game was the most-watched women's regular-season basketball game since 1999, with an average viewership of 3.39 million and a peak of 4.42 million late in the second half.

Clark broke the record for most points scored in a single game just before halftime with two free throws. This game set a new record for the highest viewership of any women's regular-season basketball game on any network since 1999, when 3.88 million saw UConn-Tennessee.

According to Sports Media Watch, this was the season's second-most-watched college basketball game, following only the Michigan State-Arizona men's game, which aired after an NFL Thanksgiving game on Fox.

Moreover, the Ohio State-Iowa game surpassed the 3.01 million viewers who watched the Boston Celtics' 140-88 rout of the Golden State Warriors on ABC on the same day.