WNBA Finals: Final Games of Fever/Lynx Down on ESPN2

Posted by | 10/25/2012 at 6:30 am

After viewership hit a seven-year high in Game 2, the 2012 WNBA Finals finished on a lower note on ESPN2 over the weekend.

Game 4 of the Lynx/Fever WNBA Finals drew 433,000 viewers on ESPN2 Sunday night, down 35% from Mercury/Fever in 2009, the most recent Game 4 of the WNBA Finals (670K).

In Indianapolis, home to the champion Fever, the game drew a 5.7 rating — actually down 11% from Mercury/Fever Game 4 in 2009 (6.4).

On Friday night, Game 3 of the series drew 337,000 viewers — down 44% from the clinching Lynx/Dream Game 3 last year (600K), and down 38% from the clinching Storm/Dream Game 3 in 2010 (545K).

Compared to the last non-clinching Game 3, Friday’s viewership declined by 13% from Mercury/Fever in 2009 (389K).

Of the three WNBA Finals games on ESPN2, Sunday’s Game 4 earned the top audience. The top game of the series overall was Game 2 on October 17, which earned 778,000 viewers on ESPN.

Viewership For 2012 WNBA Finals
Compared to past two years

Year Series Gm. 1 Gm. 2 Gm. 3 Gm. 4 Gm. 5
2012 Fever-Lynx
343K
778K
337K
433K
none
2011 Lynx-Dream
491K
447K
600K
none
2010 Storm-Dream
450K
487K
545K
none

10 Most-Viewed WNBA Playoff Games Ever on ESPN or ESPN2
Ranked by households

#
Date
Away
 Home Round, Gm. #
Net
 Homes (000)
Viewers (000)
1
 Tue., 9/1/98 Mercury Comets Finals, Gm. 3 ESPN
1,038
1,371
2
 Mon., 8/30/99 Sparks Comets WCF, Gm. 3 ESPN
874
1,052
3
 Thu., 8/28/97 Liberty Mercury Semifinal ESPN
722
890
4 Tue., 9/16/03 Sparks Shock Finals, Gm. 3 ESPN2
691
886
5 Tue., 8/25/98 Mercury Rockers Semis, Gm. 3 ESPN
678
895
6
 Thu., 8/28/97 Sting Comets Semifinal ESPN
672
885
7 Tue., 8/24/99 Monarchs Sparks Quarterfinal ESPN
655
858
8 Mon., 8/24/98 Sting Comets Semis, Gm. 2 ESPN
625
741
9 Wed., 9/6/06 Shock Monarchs Finals, Gm. 4 ESPN2
624
793
10 Wed., 10/17/12 Fever Lynx Finals, Gm. 2 ESPN
618
778

(Game 3 and 4 numbers from Son of the Bronx; top ten games from ESPN; local rating from Indianapolis Business Journal)

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  • Guest

    What was the TV ratings for the series?

    • Paulsen

      U.S. ratings for each game: 0.2 (Game 1), 0.5 (Game 2), 0.2 (Game 3), 0.3 (Game 4).