The NCAA Volleyball Final Four Thursday night at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. broke records for television viewership, demonstrating a growth in the sport.
The first semifinal match, Pitt vs. Nebraska at 7:00 p.m., brought in 1.097 million viewers and the following semifinal, Texas vs. Wisconsin at a 9:31 p.m. start time, drew 1.070 million viewers. The first semifinal had a rating of 0.26 and the second semifinal drew a rating of 0.24 in the key demographic, people around 18-49 years old, according to sportsmediawatch.com.Â
It is the most watched semifinal for volleyball on ESPN Platforms, and two of the top four watched volleyball matches ever on ESPN platforms. It was also the top two cable telecasts for people between the ages of 18-49 and the female viewership rose 49%, according to ESPN PR.
This is a big increase compared to the 2022 volleyball Final Four, which brought in 736 thousand viewers for the early match, Texas vs. San Diego, and 692 thousand for Louisville and Pitt. That is a 49 percent increase for the opening semifinals and a 55 percent increase for the closing semifinal, for an average of a 52% viewership increase over both games from 2022 to 2023.
Texas would defeat San Diego in four sets, while Louisville defeated their rival Pitt in five sets to make it to the National Title game, where Texas would sweep in three sets.
In the 2023 Final Four, Nebraska swept Pitt and Texas defeated Wisconsin in four sets, for both teams to make the National Championship.
ABC will broadcast the National Championship game 3:00 p.m., giving the sport an opportunity to have the best viewership ever for a match.
Texas will look to win their fourth National Title, tying them for fourth most championships along with UCLA. They also would make it back-t0-back National Titles for the first time in program history and the first since Stanford did it in 2018 and 2019. Nebraska will try and win their sixth National Title and first since 2017.
