2025 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Postseason Breaks Viewership Records

Just days after the conclusion of the 2025 NCAA women’s gymnastics season at the national championship in Fort Worth, ESPN PR reports the 2025 Women’s Gymnastics postseason was the network’s “most-watched postseason on record.”

Record-Breaking Results

ESPN PR reports that Saturday’s broadcast of the national championship on ABC and Disney+ garnered more than 1 million viewers and peaked at 1.5 million. The peak marks the highest on record for NCAA women’s gymnastics, defeating the 2023 peak by nearly 400,000 viewers.

The Oklahoma Sooners came out on top Saturday, claiming their seventh title in program history. K.J. Kindler’s team redeemed their mistakes from 2024, fending off challenges from runner-up UCLA, third-place Missouri, and fourth-place Utah.

With a combined average viewership of just under half a million between the Semifinal and Championship broadcasts, the 2025 postseason boasts the highest average viewership in NCAA women’s gymnastics history.

Though the 2023 NCAA Championship broadcast maintains the viewership record at 1.02 million, 2025 showed a marked increase from 2024.

ESPN PR reports that year-over-year, their team recorded an 18% increase in viewership from the prior season, putting this year’s numbers “on par” with the historic 2023 results.

The national semifinal rounds, loosely called the ‘Elite Eight,’ set viewership records. The first semifinal, held at 4 p.m. ET and featuring eventual NCAA Champion Oklahoma, Florida, Missouri, and Alabama, is now the most-watched afternoon semifinal on record.

Later that evening, the highly anticipated second session – featuring defending NCAA Champion LSU, Jordan Chiles’ UCLA Bruins, Utah, and Michigan State – recorded the third highest viewership in semifinal history.

ESPN PR also reported that 57% of last week’s viewership was female, making it “one of the largest female audience compositions for an event on ESPN platforms.”

Sustainable Success

The success of the broadcasts speaks to the rising marketability of NCAA Women’s Gymnastics. The event, which was held at 4 p.m. ET, did not earn a primetime spot due to its concurrence with the NBA Playoffs.

Even with its matinee slate, the event achieved record numbers.

Further, the final reached its record peak without one of NCAA Women’s Gymnastics’ marketing heavy-hitters. LSU, the second most-followed program in women’s gymnastics and defending national champion, fell short in the semifinal round.

The Tigers also have the NCAA’s most followed female athlete, fifth-year senior Livvy Dunne. Fans tuned in for the marquee event even in LSU’s and Dunne’s absence.

As planning begins for the upcoming 2026 season, gymnastics programs and athletes hope to see their sport continually boosted on the national stage.

Just last week, ESPN announced its plans for the 2026 Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad, one of the most competitive regular-season meets in women’s collegiate gymnastics.

After garnering groundbreaking viewership numbers in 2024 and 2025, the meet will return to primetime television next season. ESPN reports that the first two years of the event stand as the “most-watched live, regular season collegiate gymnastics meets ever” aired on ESPN platforms.

Gymnastics coverage has come a long way, including at ESPN. Amanda Gifford, ESPN’s Senior Vice President of Production, told me last week that witnessing the sport’s progress has been “special.”

“We’ve gone from a small number of live televised meets to more than 70,” she said, reflecting on ESPN’s broadcast expansion. “The team that works on this sport is so passionate about gymnastics. Some are lifelong fans, former gymnasts or dancers, or have just grown to love the sport over the years they’ve worked on it at ESPN.”

When added to the success of last week’s NCAA Championship broadcasts, the ‘Sprouts Collegiate Quad’ presents another opportunity for NCAA Women’s gymnastics to prove its market value on the national stage.

ForbesESPN Announces Return Of Sprouts Collegiate Quad To Utah In 2026By Caroline Price