Caitlin Clark and WNBA Viewership numbers
- Thread starter Franisdaman
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Caitlin Clark was the #1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, of course.
The numbers that follow all include the presence of ONE PLAYER, Caitlin Clark.
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Each of the 11 largest WNBA audiences in the past 25 years has involved Caitlin Clark in some way. 2 of those 11 largest audiences have come this season, again involving Caitlin Clark.--> Fever-Liberty (2.56M on June 6, 2026, on CBS)
--> Wings-Fever (2.49M on May 9, 2026, on ABC; the opening weekend of the season)
The full story:
Fever still running hot: Near-milestone audience for Caitlin Clark and company against the NY Liberty
by Jon LewisJune 9, 2026
Three years in, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever continue to generate milestone WNBA audiences.
Saturday’s Fever-Liberty WNBA regular season game averaged 2.56 million viewers on CBS, officially marking the 3rd-largest WNBA audience of any kind since 2000, behind Sky-Fever on ABC the opening weekend of last season (2.70M) and the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game, also on ABC (3.44M).
New York’s win, which peaked with 3.02 million viewers, increased a third from Fever-Sky in the same primetime CBS window last year — a game Caitlin Clark missed due to injury (1.92M).
Note that this is the first WNBA season since Nielsen shifted to its new methodology using “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes in conjunction with its traditional panel, and the second since the company expanded its out-of-home viewing sample to cover 100 percent of markets in the lower 48 states. It is likely that a number of games from the past two seasons would have ranked higher under the same conditions.
Each of the 11 largest WNBA audiences in the past 25 years has involved Caitlin Clark in some way, including the aforementioned 2024 All-Star Game, 9 Fever games, and the 2024 WNBA Draft in which she was picked first overall. Two have come this season, with Fever-Liberty joined by Wings-Fever on ABC the opening weekend of the season (2.49M).
Viewership nearly doubled the previous week’s primetime CBS game, which also featured the Fever — albeit against the expansion Fire (1.295M). Beyond the vastly different drawing power of the Fire and Liberty, a big factor in the stronger audience this past weekend was considerably lighter competition. The prior week’s game aired opposite Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on NBC (15.90M), while Fever-Liberty faced less formidable opposition from Game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final on ABC (5.05M).
The game faced even less competition than anticipated, as the Red Sox-Yankees Major League Baseball game on FOX was rained out. Red Sox-Yankees was to air in a window leading directly out of The Belmont Stakes, a pairing that last year resulted in the largest MLB audience of the regular season.
Fever still running hot: Near-milestone audience for Clark and co. against Liberty
Three years in, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever continue to generate some of the largest WNBA audiences in recent memory.
www.sportsmediawatch.com
Pretty wild that they NEVER had a game with an audience of over 1 million..... NEVER EVER!
Then in year one they had 23 games with over 1mill. 21 of those featuring CC. Now they have several games over 2.5 million..
Using these FACTS to argue CCs impact with doubters is a waste of time at this point tho... Any remaining people that doubt that she is THEE reason for the sudden growth will never be convinced.
But it's fun to read these numbers and see the further proof
I have no doubt she has the impact. I also have no doubt the Fever either hates it or is not really knowing what to do with it. Or hates CC. or something. CC will be gone to a new team soon. this thing is over.
The FACTS you posted are not FACTS. FACTS must be true.
I don't know the exact facts of viewership, I dunno if anybody does cause they lie so much to sell advertising for higher $$$. They embellish. supposedly they are telling lies about the people watching soccer. I don't think america cares about soccer, and I don't think people watched wnba prior to CC. me included.
however we are at this point right now where she definitely has some sort of impact. and her walking out like she did... proved it. I bet the ratings saturday were crap. with her not playing.
They had viewership well over 1 million in the late 90s when the league first launched. The first game had over 5 million.
What is true is that since 2000 the 10 most watched WNBA games all involved CC.
Clark’s Fever continue to lead WNBA viewership
by Jon LewisJune 26, 2026
Caitlin Clark and the Fever continue to rank as the biggest viewership draw in the WNBA, posting another one of the season’s top audiences.
Saturday’s (June 21, 2026) Fever-Dream WNBA regular season game averaged 1.7 million viewers on ABC, marking the third-largest audience of the season behind Fever-Liberty on CBS earlier this month (2.6M) and Wings-Fever (2.5M) on the opening weekend of the season .
Going back further, Atlanta’s win ranks as the 7th-most watched regular season WNBA game on ABC, which began carrying games in 2003. (Note that Nielsen did not begin including out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020, only began doing so in 100 percent of markets a year ago, and is months into a new methodology that combines its traditional panel with “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes. Those changes will generally skew historical comparisons, particularly to years prior to 2020.)
As one might expect given the game aired on broadcast television, viewership outpaced the two previous meetings between Clark and Angel Reese of the Dream, both of which aired on Prime Video earlier this month (816K; 686K). Last year’s lone game between Clark and Reese — then of the Sky — averaged 2.70 million viewers on ABC the opening Saturday of the season.
The Storm-Mercury lead-out averaged 1.1 million.
Shifting to the workweek, a pair of Mercury-Fever games on USA Network averaged 948,000 viewers on Wednesday and 941,000 on Monday — trailing only Tempo-Fever on the same network earlier this month (1.00M) as the most-watched games on cable or streaming this season. Dream-Valkyries led out of Wednesday’s game with 518,000 on USA and CNBC.
In other action, CBS averaged 1.32 million for Sky-Wings on Saturday night — a rebound from the previous week’s 872,000 for Lynx-Aces opposite the clinching game of the NBA Finals. The network also drew 1.02 million for Valkyries-Aces on Sunday.
On ESPN Sunday night, Liberty-Sparks averaged 778,000 in the premiere of ESPN’s “Women’s Sports Sundays” programming block. Liberty-Aces drew 394,000 on USA two nights later.
Clark's Fever continue to lead WNBA viewership
Caitlin Clark and the Fever continue to rank as the biggest draw in the WNBA, drawing another one of the season's top audiences last weekend.
www.sportsmediawatch.com
Last weekend’s WNBA Viewership Numbers
By Jon Lewis
July 4, 2026 at 8:47 AM
CBS averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.57 million viewers for Sparks-Fever last Saturday night (June 27, 2026; Caitlin did not play--back injury) and a 0.9 and 1.53 million for Aces-Sky the following day (Sunday, June 28, 2026), marking the 4th and 5th-largest audiences of the WNBA season, and the top 2 that did not feature Fever G Caitlin Clark.
In a first, four WNBA games aired on a single broadcast network over the same weekend. CBS also averaged a 0.7 and 1.26 million for Lynx-Wings on Sunday, June 28, with Mercury-Tempo on Saturday , June 27, bringing up the rear at 798,000.
On ESPN, on Sunday, June 28, Liberty-Valkyries averaged 743,000 in the second edition of “Women’s Sports Sundays.”
www.sportsmediawatch.com
By Jon Lewis
July 4, 2026 at 8:47 AM
CBS averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.57 million viewers for Sparks-Fever last Saturday night (June 27, 2026; Caitlin did not play--back injury) and a 0.9 and 1.53 million for Aces-Sky the following day (Sunday, June 28, 2026), marking the 4th and 5th-largest audiences of the WNBA season, and the top 2 that did not feature Fever G Caitlin Clark.
In a first, four WNBA games aired on a single broadcast network over the same weekend. CBS also averaged a 0.7 and 1.26 million for Lynx-Wings on Sunday, June 28, with Mercury-Tempo on Saturday , June 27, bringing up the rear at 798,000.
On ESPN, on Sunday, June 28, Liberty-Valkyries averaged 743,000 in the second edition of “Women’s Sports Sundays.”
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www.sportsmediawatch.com
I mean, more viewership means more money for the WNBA. Which is kind of the point.
It's okay with me if you don't care. Totally optional IMO.
Geno is an arrogant crybaby. Lol.
And yes, he was wrong. He said she wasn't built for the WNBA yet. All CC did was be named first-team All-Pro PG her rookie season.
Then why are you even commenting in this thread, Karen?
Because f*** Wisconsin, that's why......
You are about as interesting as cold oatmeal. Have a day.
It's weirder to care about why anyone would care. But your posting history suggests you are that kind of strange.
Carring about stuff like this is part of the makeup of a certain section of CC fans that are some of the most ridiculous fans in the history of sports.
They are bad for sports. And bad for CC, as their crap does nothing but detract from her greatness
If CC keeps up with the 5 yr old little girl tantrums, nobody is going to watch it. We can wait till the next day and see it all over youtube and twitter
Audiences still warm to Fever, with and without Clark
by Jon LewisJuly 11, 2026
The Indiana Fever delivered more viewership highs, both with and without Caitlin Clark in the lineup.
Wednesday July 8, 2026’s Fever-Sparks WNBA regular season game — which marked Caitlin Clark’s return after a two-week absence — averaged 1.04 million viewers across USA Network and CNBC, the network’s top audience of the season and the league’s largest late night regular season audience on record (start time of 10 PM ET or later).
4 of the 6 most-watched games on cable or streaming this season have aired on USA Sports, all involving Clark and the Fever.
It was the second-straight Fever game to make the list, as their game against the Aces on Sunday night, July 5, 2026, took the top spot — sans-Clark — with a 0.8 rating and 1.55 million on ESPN’s “Women’s Sports Sundays.” Not only was that the largest audience of the season on cable and streaming, but the fifth-largest across all networks.
Each of the 5 most-watched games this season have featured the Fever, and while the top 3 unsurprisingly featured Clark, the other two came during her two-week absence — on Sunday, July 5, 2026 against the Aces and the prior week against the Sparks on CBS (1.57M). That is a continuation of a trend that began during Clark’s injury-wracked sophomore season, when viewership for non-Clark Fever games still comfortably outpaced the rest of the league.
Sunday night, July 5, 2026’s audience far surpassed the two previous WNBA games on “Women’s Sports Sundays” — Liberty-Valkyries the previous week (743K) and Liberty-Sparks (778K).
The Fever and Aces have a second-straight Sunday night meeting on Sunday, July 12, but on NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball.”
ESPN and ABC were averaging 1.3 million viewers for WNBA games as of last Sunday, up 6% from the same point last year. Newcomer USA Sports is averaging 512,000 for its games, up 22% from last year’s WNBA average on cable.
In other recent WNBA action, Saturday July 4, 2026’s Valkyries-Dream game on CBS drew 965,000.
Audiences still warm to Fever, with and without Clark
The Indiana Fever delivered more viewership highs this past week, both with and without Caitlin Clark in the lineup.
www.sportsmediawatch.com
WNBA Viewership
By Jon Lewis
Jul 13, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Tuesday July 7, 2026's Wings-Liberty WNBA regular season game averaged 954,000 viewers on ESPN, marking the third-largest audience of the season on cable or streaming — with the top three coming within four days.
As previously noted, the top two games both involved the Fever — a Sunday night matchup with the Aces on ESPN (1.55M) and Caitlin Clark’s return to the lineup on Wednesday July 8, 2026, against the Sparks on USA (1.04M).
Indiana also played on Thursday night (July 9, 2026) against the Mercury in a game that averaged 436,000 on Amazon Prime Video. Clark did not play. Storm-Dream led-in with 313,000. Prime Video is averaging 439,000 viewers for WNBA games this season. The recent Commissioner’s Cup Final between the Aces and Liberty averaged 403,000 on the streamer.
By Jon Lewis
Jul 13, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Tuesday July 7, 2026's Wings-Liberty WNBA regular season game averaged 954,000 viewers on ESPN, marking the third-largest audience of the season on cable or streaming — with the top three coming within four days.
As previously noted, the top two games both involved the Fever — a Sunday night matchup with the Aces on ESPN (1.55M) and Caitlin Clark’s return to the lineup on Wednesday July 8, 2026, against the Sparks on USA (1.04M).
Indiana also played on Thursday night (July 9, 2026) against the Mercury in a game that averaged 436,000 on Amazon Prime Video. Clark did not play. Storm-Dream led-in with 313,000. Prime Video is averaging 439,000 viewers for WNBA games this season. The recent Commissioner’s Cup Final between the Aces and Liberty averaged 403,000 on the streamer.
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Despite rout, Fever-Aces delivers in WNBA’s “Sunday Night Basketball” debut
by Jon LewisJuly 15, 2026
Pairing the league’s highest-profile players and teams, the WNBA debut of “Sunday Night (July 12, 2026) Basketball” delivered one of the league’s largest audiences in 25 years.
In the first WNBA edition of NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball,” Fever-Aces on July 12, 2026 averaged 2.64 million viewers on NBC across a Nielsen-measured linear audience (1.4 rating, 2.46M viewers) and streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics — marking the largest audience of the WNBA season and the league’s second-largest regular season audience since 2000. Officially, only last year’s Sky-Fever opening weekend game on ABC averaged more viewers (2.70M).
Indiana’s blowout win, which peaked at 2.8 million in the 10:30 PM ET quarter-hour, delivered the third-largest WNBA audience overall since 2000 — trailing the aforementioned Sky-Fever game last year and the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game on ABC (3.44M).
Note that this is the first WNBA season since Nielsen began integrating “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes with its traditional panel, and the second since the company expanded its out-of-home viewing sample to cover 100 percent of markets in the lower 48 states. It is likely that a number of games from the prior two seasons would have ranked higher under the same conditions.
Viewership surpassed the previous season-high of 2.56 million for a Saturday night Fever-Liberty game on CBS in June. It also easily surpassed the same Fever-Aces matchup the previous Sunday, a game that aired on cable in which neither Caitlin Clark nor A’Ja Wilson played (1.55M).
Fever-Aces was the first of two WNBA games on NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball” franchise, as the network’s “Sunday Night Baseball” was on hiatus due to the All-Star break. The network will also air Fever-Sky in the Sunday night window on August 23, when NBC will cede its usual baseball slot to ESPN’s MLB Little League Classic.
Of the eight “Sunday Night Baseball” games on NBC during the first half of the MLB season, only two averaged a larger audience than Fever Aces — an abbreviated Yankees-Red Sox game following the PGA Tour Travelers Championship (4.0M) and Mets-Phillies following the U.S. Open in June (3.0M). The previous week’s “Sunday Night Baseball” game, Padres-Dodgers, averaged 2.3 million.
Compared to NBC’s 11 “Sunday Night Basketball” games during the NBA season, Fever-Aces topped only one — Timberwolves-Celtics opposite the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments (2.4M).
NBC is averaging 1.5 million viewers for its four WNBA games so far this season, the highest average of any network, with the caveat that the other networks have carried more games. NBC’s position is that because Nielsen does not track its streaming viewership, its combined Nielsen + Adobe audience figures are comparable to the Nielsen-only figures of other networks.
Earlier Sunday night, ESPN averaged a 0.5 rating and 965,000 viewers for Sky-Wings on “Women’s Sports Sundays,” ranking second out of the four WNBA games in the network’s new Sunday night window.
In other weekend WNBA action, ABC averaged a 0.7 and 1.18 million for Liberty-Lynx on Saturday, July 11, 2026 and CBS drew a 0.6 and 1.12 million for Fire-Dream later in the afternoon.
Despite rout, Fever-Aces delivers in WNBA's "Sunday Night Basketball" debut
The WNBA debut of NBC's "Sunday Night Basketball" delivered one of the league's largest audiences in 25 years.
www.sportsmediawatch.com