Big Ten Network draws volleyball-record 612K viewers for Wisconsin-Nebraska
Indoor
Larry Hamel
October 24, 2023
The Bob Devaney Sports Center was packed for Wisconsin at Nebraska/Nebraska photo
NCAA women’s volleyball hit another TV ratings home run on Saturday night when the ballyhooed showdown between Nebraska and Wisconsin became the most-watched regular-season volleyball match in history.
As the nation’s top-ranked teams, both undefeated, battled in a 190-minute, five-set thriller, the total-average viewership on Big Ten Network was 612,000, according to the overnight Nielsen ratings reported by the @SportsTVRatings site.
Volleyball exceeded 600K for the first time on Big Ten Network, topping the 587,000 that had tuned in for the Nebraska-Wisconsin match on Black Friday, November 25, in 2022. BTN also announced this was the largest-ever audience for a regular-season match on any network. Live volleyball matches on BTN, which has a “reach” of roughly 48 million subscribers, have averaged 142,000 viewers in 2023, an increase of 12.6% from 126,000 in 2022.
The epic tussle on Saturday night, won by the host Huskers (15-13 in the tie-breaking set), had lured a record crowd of 9,198 to the Bob Devaney Center in Lincoln, which has sold out for volleyball 317 consecutive times. The huge throng of red-clad Nebraska supporters created a sizzling atmosphere for TV viewers and the torrid competition between the then-No. 1 Badgers and No. 2 Huskers likely kept them from flipping the channel.
The volleyball on Saturday topped Big Ten Network’s live events in viewership, beating out the Northwestern-Nebraska football game, which attracted 560,000 in the late afternoon slot, and the 232,000 that watched the early football game between Rutgers and Indiana.
Big Ten Network executive Michael Calderon, its senior vice president for programming and digital media, pointed out how a viewership of this size sets the table for the remainder of the schedule.
“Both teams delivered on the hype of an undefeated No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup with a thrilling five-set match,” Calderon said. “It was a tremendous introduction to Big Ten volleyball for any first-time viewers, who will undoubtedly be back to watch more Big Ten volleyball during the final five weeks of the season. We believe there is still plenty of room for more growth.”
It’s incredibly significant when women’s volleyball draws more eyeballs than football, particularly this deep in the season when conference games are involved.
BTN had given the Nebraska-Wisconsin plenty of promo time during its football telecasts, including a lengthy segment with volleyball analyst Emily Ehman (a regular on VolleyballMag.com’s NCAA Zoom chats with VBM editor Lee Feinswog) during halftime of the Northwestern-Nebraska game from Lincoln.
Another boffo volleyball viewership for Big Ten Network could be in store when it airs the rematch between Nebraska and Wisconsin from the UW Field House in Madison, again on Black Friday, November 23, at 3 p.m. Central. Round 2 between the red-hot rivals likely will determine the Big Ten title.
A viewership of 612,000 in the middle of football season came on the heels of the 518,000 that watched Nebraska’s non-conference outdoor volleyball match in late August that attracted 92,003 fans to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. That the audience numbers continue to rise during an era in TV that has seen cord-cutters abandon traditional cable in droves speaks to the accelerating popularity of the sport.
The record volleyball viewership was gained despite intense competition from college football and the major-league baseball playoffs on Saturday night. The NLCS game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Arizona Diamondbacks had 4.61 million viewers. College football was watched by 4.08 million on ABC (Duke-Florida State), 3.73 million on NBC (Michigan-Michigan State) and 3.22 million on Fox (Utah-USC).
Don’t be surprised if TV viewership records continue to tumble as women’s volleyball builds momentum toward the NCAA title match on December 17 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The NCAA final moves away from cable TV and will air for the first time on an over-the-air platform, ABC, available in virtually all of America’s roughly 123 million TV households. When the NCAA women’s basketball championship game switched to ABC this spring, it logged a record viewership of 9.9 million.
However, the next red-letter day for volleyball figures to come this weekend, when the match between Big Ten and geographic rivals Minnesota and Wisconsin from Madison will be telecast Sunday afternoon on over-the-air Fox.
The Gophers and Badgers will have an early afternoon NFL game as a lead-in for their 3:45 p.m. Central start. The early regional games this past Sunday on Fox had a total-average viewership of 14.5 million.
It’s no stretch to project that with such a large potential spillover audience from football, the volleyball match on Sunday could exceed 1 million viewers or even beat the record total of 1.188 million that watched Wisconsin and Nebraska battle for the 2021 NCAA title on cable ESPN2.
Meanwhile, on Sunday a growth in interest among casual fans likely was reflected when the Big 12 match between UCF and Baylor picked up 202,000 total-average viewers in a 1 p.m. Eastern start. It drew a live crowd in Waco, Texas, of only 613, and neither the Knights nor the Bears enjoy a particularly large volleyball fanbase, yet more than 200K tuned in. On Sunday night, ESPN’s telecast of the Pac-12 showdown between Stanford and Oregon (both ranked in the top 10 of the VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll) drew a viewership of 103,000.
