A move to broadcast network primetime boosted the WNBA All-Star Game to a 16-year high.
Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game, the first WNBA game to ever air in primetime on broadcast television, averaged a 0.53 rating and 850,000 viewers on ABC — marking the league’s largest All-Star Game audience since 2007 (950K) and fourth-largest on record, behind 2007, 2005 (1.25M) and 2003 (1.44M).
Ratings increased 15% and viewership 16% from last year’s All-Star Game, which aired at 1 PM ET on a Sunday (0.46, 734K).
The All-Star Game delivered the largest WNBA audience overall since last year’s playoffs, when Game 3 of the Aces-Storm semifinal series averaged 904,000 on ABC. No WNBA game has averaged at least one million viewers since Candace Parker’s 2008 debut against the Phoenix Mercury (1.1M).
Notably, the game itself averaged fewer viewers than the preceding “WNBA Countdown” pregame show (986K). Even the game’s peak audience of 955,000 trailed the pregame.
Compared to other sports, the WNBA All-Star Game trailed last year’s lone NWSL game on broadcast network primetime, though that was a league championship (915K). It was the least-watched show of the night on the “Big Four” broadcast networks, but ranked third in adults 18-49 (0.16) behind only MLB on FOX (0.39) and a re-run of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” (0.18).
Friday’s Skills Challenge and Three-Point Shooting Contest, which saw Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu set a record for most threes made in an NBA or WNBA three-point contest, averaged a 0.17 and 288,000 on ESPN. Last year’s comparable events aired live on ESPNU and re-aired on ESPN2. Compared to the re-air, viewership increased 43 percent.
For more weekend sports ratings, see the SMW weekly ratings chart.
(Some ratings data from network PR, Spoiler TV 7.18)
