The WNBA Finals got off to its best start in five years, but competition from the NFL still took a toll on the ratings.
Sunday’s Connecticut-Las Vegas WNBA Finals Game 1 averaged a 0.32 rating and 555,000 viewers on ABC, marking the largest audience for a Finals opener in five years (2017 Sparks-Lynx: 566K). Keep in mind it was just the second Game 1 on broadcast television over that span. Las Vegas’ win, which peaked with 872,000 viewers, increased 14% in ratings and 18% in viewership from last year’s Chicago-Phoenix Game 1 on ABC.
Even with the five-year high, viewership was clearly impacted by NFL competition. Game 1 was ABC’s least-watched WNBA game in nearly two months, since a regular season matchup of the same two Finals teams in mid-July (516K). For the season, it ranked just tenth out of the 15 total games on broadcast television (13 on ABC and two on CBS). Among the games with a larger audience was a Noon ET Phoenix-Atlanta game on CBS Memorial Day weekend in which the Mercury lost by 27 points.
Game 1 was the final WNBA game on broadcast television this season. The remaining WNBA Finals games are scheduled for ESPN.
Of the sporting events that went head-to-head with the NFL on Sunday, the WNBA was no match for the US Open men’s final (2.15M), NASCAR (1.88M), or Sunday Night Baseball (634K), but did outdraw the competing IndyCar season finale on NBC (507K). In addition, it averaged a larger audience in adults 18-49 than the aforementioned Sunday Night Baseball game (178K to 158K).
It also more-than-doubled its lead-in from the Premier Lacrosse League semifinals (Waterdogs-Whipsnakes: 234K). The PLL Championship Game is on ABC this Sunday, bumping a potential Game 4 of the WNBA Finals to ESPN.
2022 WNBA ratings on broadcast television
(Nielsen estimates from ESPN PR, ShowBuzz Daily 9.13)
