Sports Ratings Tracker

Last Tuesday’s Wings-Liberty WNBA regular season game averaged 954,000 viewers on ESPN, marking the third-largest audience of the season on cable or streaming — with the top three coming within four days.

As previously noted, the top two games both involved the Fever — a Sunday night matchup with the Aces on ESPN (1.55M) and Caitlin Clark’s return to the lineup last Wednesday against the Sparks on USA (1.04M).

Indiana also played last Thursday night against the Mercury in a game that averaged 436,000 on Amazon Prime Video. Clark did not play. Storm-Dream led-in with 313,000.

Prime Video is averaging 439,000 viewers for WNBA games this season. The recent Commissioner’s Cup Final between the Aces and Liberty averaged 403,000 on the streamer.

CBS averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.57 million viewers for Sparks-Fever last Saturday night and a 0.9 and 1.53 million for Aces-Sky the following day, marking the fourth and fifth-largest audiences of the WNBA season, and the top two that did not feature Fever G Caitlin Clark.

In a first, four WNBA games aired on a single broadcast network over the same weekend. CBS also averaged a 0.7 and 1.26 million for Lynx-Wings on Sunday, with Mercury-Tempo on Saturday bringing up the rear at 798,000.

On ESPN, Liberty-Valkyries averaged 743,000 in the second edition of “Women’s Sports Sundays.”

Last Thursday’s Dream-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged 816,000 viewers on Amazon Prime Video, the largest WNBA audience yet for the streamer, which is in its first season of carrying Nielsen-rated games.

Atlanta’s win increased 19% from the season’s previous matchup between the teams — and their stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese — which also aired on Prime Video (686K). The teams played again this past weekend on ABC, figures for which will be available Wednesday.

The previous week, the Fever’s matchup against the Sky averaged 736,000 on Prime, part of a doubleheader that averaged 552,000.

Prime Video is now averaging 504,000 viewers for WNBA games this season, and outpacing the linear networks by 33 percent in adults 18-34, and 9% by adults 18-49.

Wednesday’s Tempo-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged 1.00 million viewers on USA Network, marking the largest audience for a WNBA game on cable or streaming this season.

Last Thursday’s Dream-Fever WNBA regular season game, the season’s first meeting between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, averaged 686,000 viewers on Prime Video — the most-watched game of the season on the streamer, but also the least-watched matchup of Clark and Reese (6 total games).

The collegiate rivals only played each other once last season, and four times the previous year. All of those games averaged at least one million.

The full Prime doubleheader averaged 545,000, and the streamer is averaging 446,000 for the season — up slightly from the average for games on linear cable this season (+1%).

As is typical for sports on streaming services, Prime is averaging a younger audience, with a median age of 55.6 — compared to 62.6 for the linear networks. (Note that NBC’s presumably younger-skewing streaming audience is not tracked by Nielsen.)

Amazon Prime Video averaged 549,000 viewers for its May 28 WNBA doubleheader, up considerably from the previous week — when coverage aired opposite the NBA conference finals (161K) — and also up from the streamer’s season debut May 14 (529K).

The doubleheader included Prime’s first Nielsen-rated game involving Caitlin Clark, as the Fever’s matchup against the Valkyries averaged 662,000.

The Fever-Valkyries game averaged 115,000 viewers among adults 18-34, the second-most watched game of the season on any network in that demo. (Note that NBC’s presumably younger-skewing streaming viewership is not tracked by Nielsen.)

Last Saturday’s Fever-Fire WNBA regular season game averaged a 0.8 rating and nearly 1.3 million viewers on CBS, marking the least-watched Fever game on the network since Caitlin Clark was drafted (six total), including two primetime games last season that she missed due to injury. (Note that the five previous games pit Indiana against the New York or Chicago, rather than expansion Portland.)

Keep in mind the game aired directly opposite Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on NBC, which averaged a combined audience of 15.9 million across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

Indiana’s loss, which saw Clark score a season-low six points, was still the most-watched of the three WNBA games on CBS this season. In the same primetime window a week earlier, Sparks-Aces averaged 1.05 million. Earlier that day, Sky-Lynx drew 1.01 million.

The game was also the most-watched of the weekend in the WNBA. NBC averaged 984,000 for Aces-Valkyries on Sunday afternoon across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

Last weekend’s Wings-Liberty WNBA regular season game averaged 1.3 million viewers on NBC across a Nielsen-estimated linear audience (0.7 rating, 1.19M viewers) and a streaming audience tracked by Adobe Analytics — the second-largest audience of the season, behind Wings-Fever on ABC the opening Saturday of play.

On ION, regional action last Friday night featuring Valkyries-Fever averaged 1.09 million. Caitlin Clark and the Fever have played in the two most-watched games on ION this season, with the previous week’s Mystics-Fever game at 950,000.

In last Friday’s nightcap, Sun-Storm averaged 307,000.

The debut of Amazon Prime Video’s new WNBA package — Lynx-Wings and Liberty-Fire on May 14 — averaged 529,000 viewers. Prime aired WNBA games prior to this season, but those were simulcasts of local feeds and were not Nielsen-rated.

Compared to last year’s WNBA average on cable, viewership for the Prime doubleheader increased 26%, outside the range that would be explained by Nielsen methodological changes.

As is commonplace for sporting events on streaming services, the gains were particularly pronounced in the young adult demographics, with viewership up triple-digits in adults 18-34 (+156%), 18-49 (+147%) and 25-54 (+106%). Prime had a median age of 53.4 for its two games, compared to 62.3 for WNBA games on linear television last season.

In the network’s first WNBA telecast since 2002, NBC averaged 1.24 million viewers for last Saturday’s Aces-Dream WNBA regular season game across Nielsen (0.7 rating, 1.14M viewers) and Adobe Analytics.

Elsewhere, USA Network averaged 676,000 for Fever-Sparks a week ago Wednesday, preceded by Aces-Sun at 343,000. USA was averaging 518,000 for its first three WNBA games this season.

Tuesday’s Fever-Aces WNBA semifinal Game 2 averaged 1.7 million viewers on ESPN, marking the largest second round playoff audience since Comets-Sparks Game 2 on NBC in the 2000 Western Conference Finals, also the most-watched ever on the ESPN family of networks.

The previous second round high on ESPN was set by Game 1 of the series last Sunday, which drew 1.4 million.

For more on the second round numbers, see this article.

Tuesday’s Dream-Fever first round WNBA playoff Game 2 averaged 1.5 million viewers on ESPN, down 40% from Fever-Sun Game 2 last year, which featured Caitlin Clark (2.5M), but still the fifth-largest WNBA playoff audience since 2000. Viewership trailed only the two Fever-Sun games last year (Game 1 averaged 1.8M) and Games 4 and 5 of the WNBA Finals (1.7 and 2.2M respectively).

Game 1 of the series averaged 951,000 on ABC opposite NFL games last Sunday, down 48% from last year’s Fever-Sun Game 1.

As for the rest of the postseason games, Aces-Storm Game 2 ranks as the most-watched of the non-Fever games with 1.1 million Tuesday night. That followed the aforementioned Dream-Fever game. Viewership increased over Storm-Aces in the same Tuesday night window last year (988K), but that game did not have a lead-in from the Fever. (The equivalent post-Fever window last year was Mercury-Lynx on a Wednesday night, which drew 1.22 million.)

As with all sports viewership figures of late, keep in mind that Nielsen has introduced a new methodology (“Big Data + Panel”) that adds data from smart TVs and set-top boxes to the traditional panel. In addition, Nielsen expanded its out-of-home viewing measure to 100 percent of markets earlier this year, up from two-thirds previously.

WNBA games averaged 1.3 million viewers across ESPN and ABC during the 2025 regular season, up 6% from last year and the most-watched WNBA season ever on the ESPN networks. Keep in mind that the season average is based on the new Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” metric, which could potentially account for all of the year-over-year gain.

The ESPN networks accounted for eight of the ten most-watched WNBA games this season.

WNBA regular season games on CBS averaged 1.17 million viewers, up 6% from last year’s eight-game slate and the network’s most-watched season. The network’s season finale, Liberty-Dream on Saturday, averaged 595,000.

ABC averaged 1.43 million viewers for its 12-game schedule of regular season WNBA games, up 13% from an eight-game average of 1.26 million last season, and its most-watched regular season yet.

The double-digit increase over last year comes despite Fever G Caitlin Clark playing only three of her team’s five scheduled ABC games — but that still exceeded the two games she played on the network last season.

For more, see this article.

Regional WNBA action featuring Mystics-Fever in most markets averaged 1.04 million viewers on ION last Friday night, marking the fourth-largest audience of the season on the network. Viewership declined 15% from coverage featuring Mercury-Fever — and a healthy Caitlin Clark on the same night last year (1.22M).

The Fever have played in each of the top four ION games this season, with Clark missing three of those four — Friday’s game and Fever-Wings on August 1 and June 27 (both 1.14M). Clark’s lone appearance on ION ranks as the network’s top game this season, as 1.46 million watched the Fever host Atlanta on July 11.

Later in the night, Aces-Mercury averaged 517,000 — up 7% from Sun-Wings a year ago (485K). ION is averaging 622,000 viewers for WNBA games so far this season, down 3% from the same point last year 640K).

Saturday’s Liberty-Lynx WNBA Finals rematch averaged 793,000 viewers on CBS, up 25% from Lynx-Mystics on the network the same weekend last year. Viewership trailed the previous matchup between the teams a week earlier on ABC (977K).

CBS is averaging 1.23 million viewers for WNBA games this season, up 8% from a year ago.

Sans Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, Saturday’s primetime Sky-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.31 million viewers on CBS — down from the network’s previous primetime meeting between the teams, which featured Reese but not Clark (1.92M).

Indiana’s win was the least-watched meeting of the Sky and Fever in the two years since Clark and Reese have been in the league.

In other WNBA action, Saturday’s Lynx-Liberty WNBA Finals rematch averaged 977,000 on ABC, and Tuesday’s Fever-Wings game on ESPN averaged 1.3 million on ESPN — the latter ranking as the third-most watched WNBA game on ESPN this season.

Sunday’s Fever-Storm WNBA regular season game averaged 1.60 million viewers on ABC, marking the eighth-most watched game of the season (ninth including the All-Star Game). Excluding games involving Caitlin Clark — who was again absent due to injury — it ranks second for the season.

On Saturday, ABC averaged 822,000 for the Lynx’ historically lopsided rout of the Aces — a 53-point margin that was the second-largest in WNBA history.

ESPN averaged 788,000 viewers for a Liberty-Lynx WNBA Finals rematch on Wednesday and 702,000 for a Liberty-Wings game two nights earlier, marking the network’s two largest WNBA audiences outside of Fever games in more than 25 years. The previous high was 701,000 for Aces-Liberty three weeks earlier.

Viewership was still no match for the network’s previous Fever game, a matchup against the Liberty last week that averaged 1.2 million despite the absence of Caitlin Clark.

Despite the absence of both Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, Sunday’s Fever-Sky WNBA regular season game averaged 1.5 million viewers on ABC — the network’s sixth-largest regular season WNBA audience, and one of the ten most-watched games this season.

The two Fever-Sky games that Clark has missed this season both rank in the top ten, with the teams’ primetime June 7 matchup on CBS averaging 1.92 million.

Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game averaged 2.2 million viewers on ABC, down 36% from last year — when the game delivered the largest WNBA audience since the opening weekend of play in 1997 — but up 158 percent from 2023.

In addition to the absence of the injured Caitlin Clark, who played in last year’s game, this year’s All-Star Game reverted back to the usual format after last year’s more intense WNBA vs. Team USA matchup.

Friday’s WNBA All-Star Three-Point Contest and Skills Challenge averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.32 million viewers on ESPN, up 79% in ratings and 90% in viewership from last year (0.38, 695K). While Fever G Caitlin Clark was initially set to participate in the three-point contest, she was absent due to injury.

Facing the MLB All-Star Game, Tuesday’s Fever-Sun WNBA regular season game from Boston averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.68 million viewers on ESPN — on par with the network’s final game before the All-Star break last season, Fever-Wings on a Wednesday night (1.70M). Last year’s game did not face the MLB All-Star Game.

Friday’s Dream-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged 1.5 million viewers on ION, marking the network’s largest audience of the season and its second-largest WNBA audience overall. It was the first ION game this season for Fever G Caitlin Clark.

Friday’s audience, which peaked with 1.8 million in the 9:15 PM ET quarter-hour, surpassed all other sporting events from last Monday through last Friday.

In the nightcap, Sun-Storm averaged 470,000 viewers. ION is now averaging 595,000 for the season, up 12% from the same point last year (529K).