The games have not been close, but Brittney Griner and Elena Delle Donne have helped make the WNBA Finals a better draw than usual.
Game 2 of the Sky/Mercury WNBA Finals drew a 0.5 U.S. rating and 763,000 viewers on ESPN Tuesday night, up 150% in ratings and 133% in viewership from Dream/Lynx Game 2 on ESPN2 last year (0.2, 328K) and flat and down 2%, respectively, compared to Fever/Lynx Game 2 on ESPN in 2012 (0.5, 778K).
The Mercury’s 29-point win earned the second-largest WNBA audience on cable in eight years, trailing only Fever/Lynx in 2012. Overall, it ranks fifth all-time among WNBA Finals games on ESPN or ESPN2.
Game 1 earned a 0.5 and 627,000 viewers on ABC Sunday afternoon, up 67% in ratings and 60% in viewership from last year’s opener on ESPN (0.3, 391K) and up 150% and 83%, respectively, from the 2012 opener on ESPN2 (0.2, 343K). According to Sports Business Daily, it was the most-watched WNBA Finals opener on any network since 1999.
On a less positive note, Game 1 ranked just third out of the four WNBA Finals games on ABC since the network acquired rights, trailing Game 3 of the 2005 series (0.6, 895K) and Game 2 in 2003 (0.9, 1.3M). It did top the most recent WNBA Finals game on broadcast, Game 1 of the 2010 series (0.3, 450K).
It should be pointed out that neither Game 1 nor Game 2 could match Game 2 of the Mercury/Lynx Western Conference Finals on August 31 (0.6, 828K). That game aired on ABC without having to face NFL competition.
(Sun./Tue. numbers from ESPN, ESPN Media Zone, Sports Business Daily)
