Caitlin Clark and WNBA Viewership numbers
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Or......they wanted to see Angel walk the runway.
Wrong. Tantrums or not people still like to watch her play.
Up 44% from 2025 WNBA all star game which drew 2.19 million viewers.
That's peculiar. Wonder what the difference was?
Lol.
Fever deliver yet more viewership highs for WNBA broadcast partners
by Jon LewisJuly 23, 2026
The Fever has yet to break in the WNBA, which saw another one of its largest audiences in more than a quarter-century.
Saturday July 18, 2026's Liberty-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.58 million viewers on CBS, marking the league’s 3rd-largest regular season audience since 2000 — trailing only Fever-Aces on NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball” the previous week (2.64M across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics) and Sky-Fever on ABC the opening weekend of last season (2.70M).
Indiana’s win, which peaked with 3.09 million, delivered the 4th-largest WNBA audience of any kind since 2000 — behind the two aforementioned games and the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game (3.44M). The Fever have played in three of the top five and four of the top seven just this season alone, with a previous CBS matchup against the Liberty ranking fifth (2.56M) and the season opener against Dallas on ABC placing seventh (2.49M).
(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 some games from the prior two seasons would have ranked higher under the same conditions.)
Each of the 13 largest WNBA audiences in the past 25 years has involved Fever point guard Caitlin Clark in some way, including 11 Fever games, the 2024 All-Star Game and the 2024 WNBA Draft in which she was picked first overall.
In other action involving the Fever, a matchup against the Valkyries on Wednesday night, July 15, 2026, averaged a 0.7 and 1.14 million on USA Network — surpassing Fever-Sparks a week earlier (1.04M) as the most-watched game on the first-year rightsholder. Two nights later, ION averaged a 0.6 and 1.02 million for regional action featuring Storm-Fever, trailing only Valkyries-Fever in May (1.09M) as the network’s most-watched game of the season.
Elsewhere in the league, ABC averaged a 0.6 and 975,000 for Sparks-Wings and CBS a 0.5 and 792,000 for Sky-Dream on Sunday, July 19, 2026, with the latter game fully airing opposite the FIFA World Cup Final.
Fever deliver yet more viewership highs for WNBA broadcast partners
The Fever has yet to break in the WNBA, which saw another one of its largest audiences in more than a quarter-century last weekend.
www.sportsmediawatch.com
Someone should do a wellness check on Monica McNutt. Lol.Fever deliver yet more viewership highs for WNBA broadcast partners
by Jon Lewis
July 23, 2026
The Fever has yet to break in the WNBA, which saw another one of its largest audiences in more than a quarter-century.
Saturday July 18, 2026's Liberty-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.58 million viewers on CBS, marking the league’s 3rd-largest regular season audience since 2000 — trailing only Fever-Aces on NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball” the previous week (2.64M across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics) and Sky-Fever on ABC the opening weekend of last season (2.70M).
Indiana’s win, which peaked with 3.09 million, delivered the 4th-largest WNBA audience of any kind since 2000 — behind the two aforementioned games and the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game (3.44M). The Fever have played in three of the top five and four of the top seven just this season alone, with a previous CBS matchup against the Liberty ranking fifth (2.56M) and the season opener against Dallas on ABC placing seventh (2.49M).
(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 some games from the prior two seasons would have ranked higher under the same conditions.)
Each of the 13 largest WNBA audiences in the past 25 years has involved Fever point guard Caitlin Clark in some way, including 11 Fever games, the 2024 All-Star Game and the 2024 WNBA Draft in which she was picked first overall.
In other action involving the Fever, a matchup against the Valkyries on Wednesday night, July 15, 2026, averaged a 0.7 and 1.14 million on USA Network — surpassing Fever-Sparks a week earlier (1.04M) as the most-watched game on the first-year rightsholder. Two nights later, ION averaged a 0.6 and 1.02 million for regional action featuring Storm-Fever, trailing only Valkyries-Fever in May (1.09M) as the network’s most-watched game of the season.
Elsewhere in the league, ABC averaged a 0.6 and 975,000 for Sparks-Wings and CBS a 0.5 and 792,000 for Sky-Dream on Sunday, July 19, 2026, with the latter game fully airing opposite the FIFA World Cup Final.
Fever deliver yet more viewership highs for WNBA broadcast partners
The Fever has yet to break in the WNBA, which saw another one of its largest audiences in more than a quarter-century last weekend.
WNBA scores 5th-largest audience on record for All-Star Game
by Jon LewisJuly 28, 2026
The WNBA delivered one of its 5 largest audiences on record for Saturday’s All-Star Game.
Saturday July 25, 2026’s WNBA All-Star Game from Chicago averaged 3.2 million viewers on ABC, marking the 5th-largest audience of any kind in league history, behind only the 2024 All-Star Game, the winner-take-all Game 3 of the 1999 WNBA Finals, and two games on the league’s inaugural weekend of play in 1997.
Viewership increased 44% from last year’s All-Star Game, which Fever point guard Caitlin Clark missed due to injury (2.19M), but fell short of the record 3.44 million for the aforementioned 2024 All-Star Game, which featured Caitlin Clark and a WNBA vs. Team USA format. The past 3 years rank as easily the most-watched in the history of the All-Star Game, comfortably surpassing the longstanding high of 1.44 million in 2003.
As recently as 3 years ago, the All-Star Game had just 850,000 viewers in the same primetime ABC window — and that was still a 16-year high at the time. Four years ago, when it was previously held in Chicago, it had 734,000 in an afternoon window on ABC. 5 years ago, the game had just 470,000 on ESPN.
Compared to other All-Star games, only the NBA and MLB editions drew more viewers over the past year — both averaging 8.79 million. For the first time, the WNBA All-Star Game outdrew its NFL equivalent, as the “Pro Bowl Games” averaged 2.0 million in a Tuesday night window on ESPN in February.
Among all All-Star events, the WNBA game ranked fifth behind the MLB and NBA games, NBA All-Star Saturday Night (5.36M) and the MLB Home Run Derby (5.29M).
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 mere 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, though it is unlikely many past WNBA games would rank higher all things being equal.
WNBA Scores - July 25, 2026 - ESPN
Live scores for WNBA games on July 25, 2026 on ESPN. Includes box scores, video highlights, play breakdowns and updated odds.
www.espn.com
WNBA scores fifth-largest audience on record for All-Star Game
The WNBA delivered one of its five largest audiences on record for Saturday's All-Star Game as an estimated 3.2 million tuned in on ABC.
www.sportsmediawatch.com
And look what they got for their time.WNBA scores 5th-largest audience on record for All-Star Game
by Jon Lewis
July 28, 2026
The WNBA delivered one of its 5 largest audiences on record for Saturday’s All-Star Game.
Saturday July 25, 2026’s WNBA All-Star Game from Chicago averaged 3.2 million viewers on ABC, marking the 5th-largest audience of any kind in league history, behind only the 2024 All-Star Game, the winner-take-all Game 3 of the 1999 WNBA Finals, and two games on the league’s inaugural weekend of play in 1997.
Viewership increased 44% from last year’s All-Star Game, which Fever point guard Caitlin Clark missed due to injury (2.19M), but fell short of the record 3.44 million for the aforementioned 2024 All-Star Game, which featured Caitlin Clark and a WNBA vs. Team USA format. The past 3 years rank as easily the most-watched in the history of the All-Star Game, comfortably surpassing the longstanding high of 1.44 million in 2003.
As recently as 3 years ago, the All-Star Game had just 850,000 viewers in the same primetime ABC window — and that was still a 16-year high at the time. Four years ago, when it was previously held in Chicago, it had 734,000 in an afternoon window on ABC. 5 years ago, the game had just 470,000 on ESPN.
Compared to other All-Star games, only the NBA and MLB editions drew more viewers over the past year — both averaging 8.79 million. For the first time, the WNBA All-Star Game outdrew its NFL equivalent, as the “Pro Bowl Games” averaged 2.0 million in a Tuesday night window on ESPN in February.
Among all All-Star events, the WNBA game ranked fifth behind the MLB and NBA games, NBA All-Star Saturday Night (5.36M) and the MLB Home Run Derby (5.29M).
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 mere 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, though it is unlikely many past WNBA games would rank higher all things being equal.
WNBA Scores - July 25, 2026 - ESPN
Live scores for WNBA games on July 25, 2026 on ESPN. Includes box scores, video highlights, play breakdowns and updated odds.
WNBA scores fifth-largest audience on record for All-Star Game
The WNBA delivered one of its five largest audiences on record for Saturday's All-Star Game as an estimated 3.2 million tuned in on ABC.
sophie is a bigger star now than CC. it just is what it is.
people are tuning in for the tantrums and drama and sophie now. and the fouls or non calls. and the off court behaviour
Sophie played in the All-Star game? Viewership for that was up 44% from last year when CC didn't play. And viewership of this year's three point contest was down 11%. CC didn't take part in that, but I'm sure the two have nothing to do with each other. Lol.
Your not serious. Sophie has risen as a star BECAUSE she hitched her wagon to CC22, much like Reese did in the opposite rising to infamy and stardom by playing the black hat in the Clark vs Reese saga. Without Clark they'd just be regular players in a league few pay attention to. Sophie is nice to look at though.....
no but she certainly is all over the news during that joke of a game. sophie probably gets better ratings BY NOT playing.
no, sophie is a bigger star because she's a bigger star OFF the court. wwe girl, supermodel, bikini girl, political outspoken person, the point, the point, the point, she is a black belt, she kicked an extra point in high school, she has wayyyy more charisma. she is not as good a b-ball player as CC, but off the court she is a huger star. this legue sucks. CC is a star in the league which sucks. sophie is a star outside of the league which is wayyyy more gooder.
Sorry, no. On social media sure, but NOT in the boardrooms of companies that drive industries. Clarks transcendence in basketball has lifted outside the sporting world. In the last three years she's made almost 50 MILLION dollars OFF the court. She's a world wide mega star, one of the most recognizable woman in the world most likely. As I already pointed out, Sophie (God love her) is ONLY in this position because she hitched her wagon to CC22. Go back and see how much of this was going on for her before 2 years ago, when she had Clarks back in that fight in the game against the Con Sun. Try telling Nike, (not only her own shoe, but her own clothing line), Wilson sporting goods as their lead account, (including almost a dozen specific balls to recognize her career), Gatorade (where they introduced new specific products with her as the lead) , State Farm as their national celebraity spokesperson, Hyvee foods, Gainbridge with her making numerous national appearances as a celebrity at LPGA golf and other events, Buick as a BRAND ambassador, and this year with pharm giant Eli Lilly, with their new commercials promoting the importance of excercise. featuring her in several commercials. SHE did much of the negotiating on many of these contracts. This young woman holds sway and clout with some of the giants in multiple industries both inside the sporting world, and outside. Sophie's a pretty face with some charisma who is riding a good wave right now. She's not in the same stratosphere as Clark when it comes to influence either on the court or OFF.
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when sophie is done, with basketball, the money will flow. 20 to 40 yrs worth, when CC is done with basketball, I am not willing to take that bet....
CC destroyed herself this year with the tantrums and the running away into the locker room. We shall see tonite if she gets a tech.
Do you have to be an insufferable cvnt in every thread?
Is she losing any of those commercial endorsements with major corporate giants?
Absolute nonsense. As she ages the "damn she's pretty" bikini and runway model stuff goes away fast. Try actually addressing my post about Clarks influence with worldwide industry leading companies.
Keep dreaming. Lol. Sophie is very popular, but only to people who pay attention to the WNBA. Nobody who doesn't watch the WNBA knows who Sophie Cunningham is. The entire world knows who CC is whether they watch the WNBA or not. She's arguably the most popular female athlete on the planet.
it's official now: people are tuning in for the trainwrecks and the meltdowns.
I get the spirit of this but it's just not accurate. The league's inaugural game in '97 drew >5 million viewers. I don't know why these clowns continue to leave that out. There's no denying CC is the face of the league and that after the '97 game she's been a part of the rest of the most watched games in league history. But posts like this do no credit to that when they leave out the simple fact that the game in '97 was the most watched WNBA game in history.
Okay, but lets be honest. People tuned in to see just what the product would actually be, and once they saw the "product" they went back to watching reruns of Gunsmoke. Nothing to see here. Clark and to a lesser degree some of the young talent coming in now, have at least made it interesting. In truth the whole off the court meltdown of the fan bases has added to the soap opera fan followers.
Yeah I agree with all of that and it's all true. So why not just be honest about the most viewed games in WNBA history?
Generally agree with both of you, but the WNBA had some initial viewership highs that lingered the first several years, especially come playoff time. Clark and the Fever have yet to crack the top 6 for all-time game viewership (excluding all-star games), but that could certainly change this year. Would be nice if the Clark twitter brigade knew the meaning of the words all time. According to Sports Media Watch, the top 15 viewership games in WNBA history (excluding all-star games) are, as of today:
1 | Liberty | Sparks | 21-Jun-97 | NBC | 5.04 million | WNBA debut |
2 | Sting | Mercury | 22-Jun-97 | NBC | 3.59 million | WNBA debut weekend |
3 | Liberty | Comets | 5-Sep-99 | NBC | 3.25 million | game 2 WNBA Finals |
4 | Sparks | Mercury | 14-Jun-98 | NBC | 2.89 million | |
5 | Liberty | Comets | 30-Aug-97 | NBC | 2.85 million | WNBA Finals |
6 | Liberty | Comets | 29-May-00 | NBC | 2.74 million | WNBA/NBA DH |
7 | Sky | Fever | 17-May-25 | ABC | 2.7 million | |
8 | Fever | Aces | 12-Jul-26 | NBC | 2.64 million | |
9 | Sparks | Comets | 29-Aug-99 | NBC | 2.62 million | game 2 w. conf. finals |
10 | Liberty | Fever | 18-Jul-26 | CBS | 2.58 million | |
11 | Fever | Liberty | 6-Jun-26 | CBS | 2.56 million | |
12 | Comets | Liberty | 13-Jun-98 | NBC | 2.55 million | season opener |
13 | Fever | Sun | 25-Sep-24 | ESPN | 2.54 million | game 2 playoffs |
14 | Sparks | Comets | 9-Aug-97 | NBC | 2.53 million | Swoopes 2nd W gm |
15 | Fever | Lynx | 2-Aug-26 | ABC | 2.51 million | |
Keep in mind that they are using "big data" this year (a new methodology Nielsen is using that integrates numbers from smart TVs and set-top boxes with its traditional panel).
August 7, 2026
Minnesota guard Olivia Miles dribbles downcourt as Caitlin Clark defends in the Sunday, Aug 2, 2026 game in Minneapolis.
WNBA viewership is comfortably ahead of last year’s pace entering the final weeks of the regular season.
WNBA regular season games were averaging 756,000 viewers through Wednesday Aug 5, 2026 across NBCUniversal, ESPN/ABC, CBS, ION, USA Network and NBA TV, a figure that includes Adobe Analytics for NBC games — up 15% from last year. That is beyond the range one would typically attribute to Nielsen’s methodological changes of the past year, namely its shift to a new methodology that integrates “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes with its traditional panel.
Like the NBA, which this past regular season enjoyed a 35% increase in viewership, the WNBA has benefited from having fewer games on NBA TV dragging down the average — and more games on broadcast television than at any point in league history. Quite unlike the NBA, which scaled back its cable TV presence in its new deal, the WNBA has also had an increase in games on cable thanks to its agreement with USA Network.
The league generated one of its top audiences of the season last weekend, as the Sunday, Aug 2, 2026 Fever-Lynx game averaged a 1.5 rating and 2.52 million viewers on ABC — the 4th-largest audience of the current season and 5th-largest including the recent All-Star Game (3.16M).
Minnesota’s win, which peaked with 3.1 million viewers, delivered the 8th-largest WNBA audience of any kind since 2000. Fever guard Caitlin Clark has been involved in each of the top 10, including 7 Fever games, 2 All-Star games, and the 2024 WNBA Draft in which she was picked #1 overall.
Indiana’s previous game, against Portland two nights earlier (Friday, July 31, 2026), averaged a 0.7 and 1.085 million on ION — trailing only Valkyries-Fever in May (1.09M) as the network’s most-watched window of the season. Indiana’s win, which peaked with 1.31 million, delivered the largest audience for a late night game on ION since the Scripps-owned “netlet” began airing WNBA games in 2023.
ION had its most-watched doubleheader of the season with an average of 877,000. In addition to the Fever game, the network delivered its largest non-Fever audience this season with a 0.40 and 655,000 for its early window.
In other action, NBC averaged 1.2 million for Sparks-Fire last Sunday Aug 2, 2026 across a Nielsen-measured linear audience (0.7 rating, 1.16M viewers) and streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics. ESPN drew a 0.39 and 694,000 for Sun-Wings later in the night.
Last Saturday, Aug 1, 2026, CBS drew a 0.7 and 1.08 million for Chicago’s buzzer-beating win over the Aces and ABC a 0.54 and 921,000 for Liberty-Mercury.
In what would have to be a first, the WNBA accounted for 9 of the top 22 sports audiences on all of television for the week ending last Sunday, Aug 2, 2026 — easily more than any other league. That includes the above-mentioned games and a Dream-Wings matchup on USA Network Wed, July 29, 2026 that averaged a 0.4 and 721,000. Even the mere fact that the WNBA had 9 nationally televised windows across 6 platforms in one week would have been hard to believe five years ago.
www.sportsmediawatch.com
WNBA viewership continues to rise heading into stretch run
by Jon LewisAugust 7, 2026
Minnesota guard Olivia Miles dribbles downcourt as Caitlin Clark defends in the Sunday, Aug 2, 2026 game in Minneapolis.
WNBA viewership is comfortably ahead of last year’s pace entering the final weeks of the regular season.
WNBA regular season games were averaging 756,000 viewers through Wednesday Aug 5, 2026 across NBCUniversal, ESPN/ABC, CBS, ION, USA Network and NBA TV, a figure that includes Adobe Analytics for NBC games — up 15% from last year. That is beyond the range one would typically attribute to Nielsen’s methodological changes of the past year, namely its shift to a new methodology that integrates “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes with its traditional panel.
Like the NBA, which this past regular season enjoyed a 35% increase in viewership, the WNBA has benefited from having fewer games on NBA TV dragging down the average — and more games on broadcast television than at any point in league history. Quite unlike the NBA, which scaled back its cable TV presence in its new deal, the WNBA has also had an increase in games on cable thanks to its agreement with USA Network.
The league generated one of its top audiences of the season last weekend, as the Sunday, Aug 2, 2026 Fever-Lynx game averaged a 1.5 rating and 2.52 million viewers on ABC — the 4th-largest audience of the current season and 5th-largest including the recent All-Star Game (3.16M).
Minnesota’s win, which peaked with 3.1 million viewers, delivered the 8th-largest WNBA audience of any kind since 2000. Fever guard Caitlin Clark has been involved in each of the top 10, including 7 Fever games, 2 All-Star games, and the 2024 WNBA Draft in which she was picked #1 overall.
Indiana’s previous game, against Portland two nights earlier (Friday, July 31, 2026), averaged a 0.7 and 1.085 million on ION — trailing only Valkyries-Fever in May (1.09M) as the network’s most-watched window of the season. Indiana’s win, which peaked with 1.31 million, delivered the largest audience for a late night game on ION since the Scripps-owned “netlet” began airing WNBA games in 2023.
ION had its most-watched doubleheader of the season with an average of 877,000. In addition to the Fever game, the network delivered its largest non-Fever audience this season with a 0.40 and 655,000 for its early window.
In other action, NBC averaged 1.2 million for Sparks-Fire last Sunday Aug 2, 2026 across a Nielsen-measured linear audience (0.7 rating, 1.16M viewers) and streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics. ESPN drew a 0.39 and 694,000 for Sun-Wings later in the night.
Last Saturday, Aug 1, 2026, CBS drew a 0.7 and 1.08 million for Chicago’s buzzer-beating win over the Aces and ABC a 0.54 and 921,000 for Liberty-Mercury.
In what would have to be a first, the WNBA accounted for 9 of the top 22 sports audiences on all of television for the week ending last Sunday, Aug 2, 2026 — easily more than any other league. That includes the above-mentioned games and a Dream-Wings matchup on USA Network Wed, July 29, 2026 that averaged a 0.4 and 721,000. Even the mere fact that the WNBA had 9 nationally televised windows across 6 platforms in one week would have been hard to believe five years ago.
WNBA viewership continues to rise heading into stretch run
WNBA viewership remains comfortably ahead of last year's pace entering the final weeks of the regular season.
www.sportsmediawatch.com
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