In Paris 2024, Team USA’s women’s volleyball team set the tone, reaching the finals in Paris. While they landed just short of gold against Italy, it was a sign of things to come. Now, with the 2024-25 NCAA volleyball season underway, women’s volleyball is breaking new ground. Last night’s match between #5 Nebraska and #2 Stanford showed the rising popularity of the sport.

Hosted at Bob Devaney Sports Center, the game between the two teams garnered 325,000 peak views at 7 pm CT on BTN. Meanwhile, another match-up between Louisville and Kentucky also crossed the 300k mark, reaching a 318,000 peak on ESPN at 6 pm CT. A third game between Texas and Baylor narrowly missed the mark with 296,000 viewers at 8 pm on ESPN, according to an account called Avid on X.

James Santelli, a dedicated fan of Pitt volleyball, put things into perspective. “Men’s college basketball averages 299K viewers on ESPN2 and 248K viewers on BTN,” he wrote on X. “Volleyball on TV is rising, and it helps that these schools have no fear of scheduling tough,” added Santelli. The X-user was indeed right about women’s volleyball being up against tough competition in the broadcast space.

Besides garnering more views than men’s college basketball in both average and peak viewership, the NCAA matches also trumped baseball. When asked if the viewership numbers for the three NCAA games were good, Avid answered. “Baseball in the same time slot last week had 222k,” Avid added to their post on X. Yet, if you still have doubts, let’s look at some more numbers.

Last night wasn’t a lighting-in-a-bottle scenario, where the high-stakes game between two top-ranked NCAA volleyball squads garnered 325,000 views. The 2024-25 season opener game between last year’s champions Nebraska Huskers and #9 Kentucky on August 27, set a new ESPN record. The game garnered an average viewership of 344,000, with a peak of over 400,000.

While last night’s numbers were lower, the season is well underway. To hold on to the majority of the massive 400,000+ peak into the regular season is quite an achievement. However, the true test of popularity will come much later in the NCAA season.

Will NCAA women’s volleyball beat last year’s numbers?

While this year’s season got off to a blistering start in terms of viewership on ESPN, last season set the bar high. In fact, the 2023-24 Division 1 women’s volleyball season was historic. A record 19,727 fans attended the indoor venue at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. However, it was the TV viewership record that was truly mind-boggling.

Besides beating the all-time collegiate volleyball attendance record in Florida, 1.7 million people tuned in to watch the final game on ABC. The viewership numbers showed a 115% increase from 2022. During the 2022–23 finals, 786,000 viewers switched on their TVs to watch the championship finals. However, there’s a chance this year will bring new records.

“Everyone Watches Women’s Sports,” has become far more than just a slogan on the Togethxr t-shirt. Driven by Caitlin Clarke’s popularity, the NCAA women’s March Madness final garnered 18.8 million views on TV. The final between the South Carolina vs. Iowa Hawkeyes became the most-watched basketball game in the entire nation in the last five years. While NCAA women’s volleyball is yet to reach such heights, the growth has been exponential.