Nothing compares to the Caitlin Clark effect, but the Indiana Fever still drew an elevated TV crowd in her absence.
Wednesday’s Fever-Mystics WNBA regular season game averaged 357,000 viewers on NBA TV, ranking as the tenth-largest WNBA audience ever on the network, according to Associated Press writer Doug Feinberg. NBA TV became Nielsen rated in 2010.
Clark missed the game due to a left quad strain, marking the first time in her professional or collegiate career that she has missed a non-exhibition game. She also missed a preseason game against the same Mystics due to other issues with the same left quad.
With Clark out at least two weeks, the Fever are set to play three more games in her absence — including a primetime CBS game against the Sky a week from Saturday.
As previously noted, there is simply no substitute for having Clark actually in the lineup. The Fever’s previous NBA TV game against Atlanta averaged 581,000.
In addition, Clark’s final game before injury — Saturday’s matchup with the Liberty — averaged 2.22 million on CBS, the network’s second-largest WNBA audience behind a Sky-Fever game last year (2.25M).
Clark and the Fever have already this season featured in two of the eight most-watched WNBA telecasts since 2001.
