Sports Ratings Tracker

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).

Sunday’s Wings-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged 2.1 million viewers on ABC, doubling Mercury-Sun in the same window last year (1.02M) and the network’s fourth-largest WNBA regular season audience.

Figures for ABC’s Lynx-Sky game on Saturday were not immediately available.

Sunday’s Storm-Liberty WNBA regular season game averaged 987,000 viewers on CBS, down about half from Liberty-Fever last year (1.87M). Despite the big drop, CBS is still averaging more viewers this season than last, as its five-game average of 1.38 million is up slightly from a four-game average of 1.37 million a year ago.

Keep in mind CBS has aired only one Caitlin Clark game this season, compared to two at the same point last year.

Despite the absence of Caitlin Clark, last Friday’s Fever-Wings WNBA regular season game averaged 1.14 million viewers on ION — the network’s most-watched game of the season and seventh-most watched since acquiing rights.

Indiana’s win, which peaked with 1.5 million in the 9:30 PM ET quarter-hour, trails only six game windows last season — all of which featured Clark.

In the nightcap, Liberty-Mercury averaged 610,000.

WNBA games on ION are now averaging 541,000 viewers for the season, on par with last year (540K), despite Clark having played in none of the network’s game windows.

CBS on Father’s Day averaged 939,000 viewers for a Sun-Sky WNBA regular season game, unsurprisingly down by more than half compared to Sky-Fever a year ago (2.25M). The previous day on June 14, CBS drew 702,000 for Sparks-Lynx, up 5% from Sun-Wings a year ago (671K).

Sunday’s Fever-Aces WNBA regular season game averaged 1.7 million viewers on ESPN, which the network says is its third-largest WNBA regular season audience. Viewership actually declined 26% from the equivalent window last year, which pit the Fever against the Sky in a matchup of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

Tuesday’s Sun-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged a 0.34 rating and 624,000 viewers on NBA TV, making it the most-watched game of the season on the network. The previous high was 581,000 for the Fever against the Dream last month.

Viewership outpaced a Sky-Liberty game on ESPN the previous Tuesday night, which drew 606,000. (That game did have a higher rating, 0.38).

Saturday’s Liberty-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged 2.2 million viewers on ABC, matching the teams’ previous meeting on CBS last month as the second-most watched game of the WNBA season.