WNBA playoff viewership is the highest in 20 years entering the Finals, including the league’s most-watched game in 14 years.
The WNBA Playoffs has averaged 439,000 viewers across the ESPN family of networks through the semifinals, the highest average at this point of the postseason since games aired on NBC and ESPN in 2002. The nine semifinal games averaged 488,000, the largest audience for the round (previously the conference finals) since 2010.
Last Sunday’s Aces-Storm Game 3 ranks as the most-watched game of the playoffs with a 0.54 rating and 905,000 viewers on ABC. Las Vegas’ overtime win, which peaked with 1.4 million viewers, ranks as the most-watched WNBA game of any kind since the 2008 season opener (Sparks-Mercury: 1.1M) — topping the previous high of 902,000 for Game 5 of the 2017 WNBA Finals.
Going back further, it was the most-watched WNBA playoff game in 19 years — since Game 2 of the 2003 Sparks-Shock WNBA Finals on ABC (1.3M).
Tuesday’s clinching Game 4, which marked the final career appearance of Storm G Sue Bird, averaged 469,000 viewers on ESPN2.
As for the other series, Thursday’s winner-take-all Sky-Sun Game 5 averaged just 358,000 on ESPN2 opposite the NFL Kickoff Game and breaking news coverage, ahead of only Game 2 (322K) as the least-watched game of the semifinals. Game 4 drew 412,000 on Tuesday and Game 3 498,000 on Sunday.
(Nielsen estimates from ESPN PR, ShowBuzz Daily 9.7)
