Sans Caitlin Clark and any semblance of real competition, the WNBA All-Star Game still drew its second-largest audience despite a sizable viewership drop.
Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game averaged a 1.1 rating and 2.19 million viewers on ABC, ESPN+ and Disney+, down 44% in ratings and 36% in viewership from last year (1.9, 3.44M), but still the second-largest audience ever for the game (dates back to 1999). Last year’s All-Star Game featured Clark and a WNBA vs. Team USA format that was credited for an unusually high level of competitive zeal. This time around, Clark sat out due to injury and the game reverted to its usual format.
Viewership increased 158 percent from the previous non-Clark All-Star Game two years ago (850K) and 52 percent from the non-Clark high of 1.44 million in 2003. As recently as four years ago, when it last aired on cable, the game averaged fewer than 500,000 viewers.
For the season, the WNBA All-Star Game ranks fourth behind Sky-Fever on the opening Saturday of play (2.7M) and two Liberty-Fever games, one on CBS and the other on ABC (2.2M each). The ten most-watched games this season are the Indiana-hosted All-Star Game, eight Fever games, and Aces-Liberty on the opening Saturday of play (1.3M).
The All-Star Game also ranks tenth among all WNBA telecasts — including the WNBA Draft — dating back to 2001.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert said during a media availability Saturday that regular season viewership is up 23 percent from last year, but the league had not provided a viewership figure or the timeframe of comparison by time of publication.
Through the All-Star Game, ESPN/ABC is averaging 1.36 million viewers for WNBA games this season — up 2% from last year (1.33M). The networks had been up ten percent prior to the All-Star break. CBS, which finished its first half with just shy of 1.0 million viewers for Valkyries-Aces on July 12 (987K), is up 6% to nearly 1.3 million (1.298M). ION is up 12% to 595,000 viewers for its Friday night games. Figures NBA TV will be added when available.
