WNBA playoff viewership continues to rise; the SEC is powering ABC to its best five-week start in eight years; and more.
Aces-Liberty sets another new high for WNBA semifinals
Tuesday’s Aces-Liberty WNBA semifinal Game 2 averaged a 0.56 rating and 969,000 viewers on ESPN2, surpassing Sunday’s Game 1 on ABC (929K) as the most-watched semifinal game since 2002. New York’s win, which peaked with 1.2 million viewers, trails only Caitlin Clark’s career debut in May (2.12M) as the most-watched WNBA game ever on ESPN2.
Like Game 1, Game 2 outdrew all four games of last year’s WNBA Finals between the same two teams, the most-watched of which was Game 4 with 889,000. It also outdrew every WNBA game from 2009-23, a 15-year stretch in which no game averaged more than the 913,000 who watched the deciding Sparks-Lynx WNBA Finals Game 5 in 2017.
Ratings increased 62% and viewership 72% from last year’s comparable Sun-Liberty Game 2 on ESPN (0.35, 563K).
Later in the night, Sun-Lynx Game 2 averaged a 0.39 and 668,000 — up 17% and 28% respectively from last year’s Wings-Aces Game 2 (0.33, 522K). Both games faced MLB Postseason action on ESPN and a political debate that averaged more than 40 million.
SEC-powered ABC off to best college football start since 2016
ABC is averaging 5.5 million viewers for college football games this season, trailing only 2016 as its highest average at this point of a season since 2011. The network is in its first season carrying the over-the-air package of SEC games that previously belonged to CBS, averaging 6.2 million for its new “SEC on ABC” windows.
Viewership is up 32% from last year, when the network was caught between the end of its Big Ten rights deal and the start of its SEC coverage.
The network’s Saturday Night Football window is averaging 7.3 million viewers, the highest five-week average for its primetime franchise since 2011. Its 3:30 PM ET window — which in the CBS era typically featured the biggest SEC game of the week — is averaging 4.4 million. Not only is ABC setting aside the biggest SEC games for primetime, but the 3:30 window is no longer exclusive to broadcast, with ESPN carrying a competing SEC game in most weeks.
Plus: College volleyball, Top Rank Boxing, La Liga, NHL preseason
— College volleyball matches are averaging 174,000 viewers on the ESPN networks so far this season, up 16% from last year.
— Airing immediately following college football coverage, Top Rank Boxing featuring the Mikaela Mayer-Sandy Ryan welterweight world championship averaged 933,000 viewers on ESPN last Saturday night, marking the network’s most-watched boxing card in more than two years.
— Last Sunday’s Atletico Madrid-Real Madrid La Liga match averaged 385,000 viewers on ESPN Deportes, marking the most-watched edition of the Madrid Derby on the ESPN networks.
— TNT averaged 170,000 viewers for Devils-Rangers and 139,000 for Golden Knights-Avalanche in an NHL preseason doubleheader Tuesday night, both down from last year’s equivalent windows (Bruins-Rangers: 305K; Avalanche-Golden Knights: 190K). (It should be noted that the “Devils” were comprised of AHL players.)
