2015 WCWS Viewership Easily Eclipses Baseball's College World Series

Driven by record viewership of the Women's College World Series, the WCWS easily eclipsed the viewership of baseball's College World Series by 31 percent^. The 2015 Women's College World Series — ESPN's 15th year televising the entire event – was the most-viewed Women's College World Series on record*, averaging 1,196,000 viewers (15 games) from May 28 – June 3.

Furthermore, No. 1 Florida vs. No. 3 Michigan's best-of-three WCWS Championship Finals – which Florida won 2 games to 1 — averaged 1,912,000 viewers (June 1-3), the most-viewed WCWS Championship Finals ever.

WCWS Viewers CWS Viewers Game 1: Michigan-Florida 1,412,000 Game 1: Vanderbilt-Virginia 1,234,000 Game 2: Michigan-Florida 1,865,000 Game 2: Vanderbilt-Virginia 1,332,000 Game 3: Michigan-Florida 2,273,000 Game 3: Vanderbilt-Virginia 1,665,000 Three-game average 1,850,000 1,410,000

Additionally, 2015 Women's College World Series provided four of the top 10 most-watched games in the event's history (records since 1990):

- No. 2 Most-Watched Game: No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 1 Florida (Championship Finals Game 3) averaged 2,273,000 viewers

- No. 4 Most-Watched Game: No. 5 LSU vs. No. 3 Michigan (Game 12) averaged 1,950,000 viewers

- No. 6 Most-Watched Game: Michigan vs. Florida (Championship Finals Game 2) averaged 1,865,000 viewers

- No. 9 Most-Watched Game: No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 4 Auburn (Game 9) on averaged 1,612,000 viewers

Most-Viewed Games in WCWS History:

Rank WCWS Year and Game Matchup Viewership

1. 2007 Championship Finals – Game 3 Tennessee vs. Arizona 2,326,000

2. 2015 Championship Finals – Game 3 Michigan vs. Florida 2,273,000

3. 2005 Championship Finals – Game 3 Michigan vs. UCLA 2,240,000

4. 2015 Game 12 LSU vs. Michigan 1,950,000

5. 2007 Championship Finals – Game 2 Arizona vs. Tennessee 1,919,000

6. 2015 Championship Finals – Game 2 Florida vs. Michigan 1,865,000

7. 2003 Championship California vs. UCLA 1,852,000

8. 2009 Championship Finals – Game 2 Florida vs. Washington 1,788,000

9. 2015 Game 9 UCLA vs. Auburn 1,612,000

10. 2004 Championship California vs. UCLA 1,593,000

2015 Women's College World Series Bracket Round

ESPN's entire presentation of the 2015 Women's College World Series bracket round (May 28-May 31) averaged 1,055,000 viewers (12 games), the second most-viewed WCWS bracket roundon ESPN networks topped only by the 2011 WCWS bracket round (1,114,000 average viewers).

2015 Women's College World Series Championship Finals Top Markets

Detroit led all local markets with a 4.0 rating, followed by Birmingham (3.9), Oklahoma City (3.5), Knoxville (3.4), Jacksonville (3.0), Orlando (2.8), Tampa, Dayton & Nashville (2.3) and Greenville (2.0)

WatchESPN

The 2015 WCWS Championship Finals average minute audience was up 168% and average game unique viewers up +124%, respectively, on WatchESPN compared to last season's WCWS Championship Finals. Additionally, the entire WCWS average audience was up 209% and total minutes up 200%, respectively, compared to 2014 WCWS.

ESPN'S 2015 College Softball Regular Season

ESPN's record-setting 2015 Women's College World Series follows its most comprehensive college softball regular season on the ESPN networks. With 44 games televised across ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU, viewership increased 29% compared to a similar television slate in 2014. With the addition of the SEC Network (not rated by Nielsen) and expansion of ESPN3 coverage,ESPN covered more than 400 college softball games this season.

^ Courtesy of sportstvratings.com

*Records date back to 1990. Prior to 2001, ESPN televised portions of the Women's College World Series, but not in its entirety

-- Courtesy of Derek Volner (ESPN)