Caitlin Clark and WNBA Viewership numbers

[Franisdaman]

 

[Randon]

Tonight's fearless prediction: Fever win with CC contributing 24, 9, and 4 rebounds.

 

[ottumwan in tx]

Steph white says quit watching

 

[Hawksfor3]

Steph white says quit watching, and while you're at it, go to hell!

FIFY.

 

[Hawkangler]

The Women's NBA is starting to turn the corner in viewership, mostly thanks to Caitlin. If their management does not change the negative press from their transgender narrative, it could revert back to the previous league numbers. They all met yesterday and could not reach an agreement of defining what a woman is. Sad, truely sad.

 

[ottumwan in tx]

Are they going to show the sudden loss of viewers when football starts?

 

[Hawksfor3]

The Women's NBA is starting to turn the corner in viewership, mostly thanks to Caitlin. If their management does not change the negative press from their transgender narrative, it could revert back to the previous league numbers. They all met yesterday and could not reach an agreement of defining what a woman is. Sad, truely sad.

 

[Franisdaman]

 

[Franisdaman]

 

[Franisdaman]

 

[Hawkangler]

Steph white says quit watching

Actually, I think she said, "everybody can go to Hell".

 

[Kceasthawk@77]

Actually, I think she said, "everybody can go to Hell".

Actually, I think she said, "everybody can go to Hell".

"Everybody ELSE can go to Hell".....

 

[Franisdaman]

 

[Franisdaman]

Fever yet to break as WNBA delivers another pair of milestone audiences​

by Jon Lewis
Aug 14, 2026

The Fever shows no sign of easing as the WNBA continues to deliver some of its largest audiences in the past quarter-century.

Tuesday Aug 11, 2026’s Fever-Liberty WNBA regular season game averaged 2.01 million viewers on ESPN, marking the fourth-largest WNBA audience ever on cable, trailing only three games in 2024 — Caitlin Clark’s career debut against Connecticut (2.11M), her second career meeting with Angel Reese (2.30M), and the winner-take-all Game 5 of the WNBA Finals (2.15M). Each of those games aired on ESPN or ESPN2.

Indiana’s win, which peaked with 2.35 million viewers in the 9 PM ET quarter-hour, delivered the 8th-largest audience of the WNBA season. With the exception of the All-Star Game, each have involved the Fever.

That list also includes last Saturday Aug 8, 2026’s matchup of the Fever and Sky, which averaged a 1.5 rating and 2.56 million viewers on ABC — tied as the fourth-largest audience of the season, matching Fever-Liberty on CBS in June. The only games to place higher were another matchup of the Liberty and Fever on CBS (2.58M), Fever-Aces on NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball” (2.64M) and the All-Star Game on ABC (3.15M).

Going back further, Indiana’s win tied the 6th-largest WNBA audience of any kind since 2000 — behind the aforementioned games, Sky-Fever on the opening weekend of last season (2.70M) and the 2024 All-Star Game (3.44M).

Each of the 11 most-watched games since 2000 have involved Caitlin Clark in some way, including eight Fever games, her two All-Star appearances, and the 2024 WNBA Draft in which she was picked first overall.

Also on Sat Aug 8, 2026, CBS averaged a 0.8 and 1.31 million for Aces-Lynx, the first game of a nationally televised back-to-back for Las Vegas. The Aces rested their starters for the second game, on Sun Aug 9, 2026, a 40-point loss to New York that averaged a 0.8 and 1.29 million on ABC.

The Lynx also played back-to-back nationally televised games on Aug 8 and Aug 9. The Aug 9, 2026 game against Dallas averaging 1.6 million on NBC across a Nielsen-estimated linear audience (0.8 rating, 1.465M viewers) and Adobe Analytics.

On Sun Aug 9, 2026, ESPN averaged a 0.45 and 805,000 for Valkyries-Sparks on “Women’s Sports Sundays.”

To put the numbers in perspective, the same weekend last year featured only two nationally televised games, both on ABC. Fever-Storm — without an injured Caitlin Clark — averaged 1.60 million, and a 53-point rout of the Aces by the Lynx averaged 822,000.

(Figures for the August 6 Aces-Fever game on Prime Video were delayed and would not be expected for several days. Given the teams involved and the result — Las Vegas tied the game at the end of regulation and then won at the buzzer in overtime thanks to a pair of threes by Chelsea Gray — the game seemed likely to rank among the most-watched on the streamer this season.)

Fever yet to break as WNBA delivers another pair of milestone audiences

The Fever shows no sign of easing as the WNBA continues to deliver some of its largest audiences in the past quarter-century.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

 

[Franisdaman]

WNBA Fever Dream continues with new viewership records on ESPN, ION​

by Jon Lewis
Aug 18, 2026


Another weekend, another set of viewership milestones for the WNBA.

Sunday Aug 16, 2026’s Fever-Dream WNBA regular season game averaged 2.58 million viewers on ESPN, marking the largest WNBA audience of any kind ever on cable. The previous high was 2.54 million for Fever-Sun Game 2 in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, Caitlin Clark’s most-recent playoff game.

Indiana’s win, which peaked with four million viewers in the 7:15 PM ET quarter-hour, was the 8th game this season to average at least 2.4 million viewers — doubling the previous 25 seasons combined. (Note that this is the first WNBA season since Nielsen shifted to its new “Big Data + Panel” methodology and the second since it 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 hit that mark under the same conditions.)

Overall, the 12-largest WNBA viewing audiences since 2000 have occurred in the past 3 seasons, each involving Fever G Caitlin Clark — nine Fever games, her two appearances in the All-Star Game and the 2024 WNBA Draft in which she was selected first overall.

The strong lead-in provided a boost to the second game of ESPN’s doubleheader, a matchup of sub-.500 teams between the Mercury and Fire in which former Phoenix G Diana Taurasi had her jersey retired. That game averaged 1.35 million, marking the largest WNBA regular season audience ever on ESPN that did not involve the Clark-era Fever.

The ESPN family of networks (including ABC) were averaging 1.4 million viewers for WNBA games entering Tuesday Aug 18, 2026’s doubleheader, up 16% from last year. With the WNBA soon to pause for a three-week break for the FIBA World Championships and the pro and college football seasons about to start, ESPN has only one more regular season night — and it is more than a month away on September 22.

ESPN was not the only network to set a record for a Fever game last week. Indiana’s Fri Aug 14, 2026 game against Dallas averaged 1.62 million viewers on ION, marking the largest WNBA audience ever on the network, which began airing games in 2023. Notably, the game was the most-watched sporting event of a day that included an NFL preseason game on NFL Network.

In addition to ranking as the most-watched WNBA game on ION, it was also the network’s top program of any kind in nearly four years — since August 30, 2022.

WNBA Fever Dream continues with new viewership records on ESPN, ION

Another weekend, another set of viewership milestones for the WNBA, as Fever-Dream delivered the league's top audience ever on cable.

www.sportsmediawatch.com