From Sports Media Watch, a one-stop page for all sports ratings news.
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: ESPN
Jon Lewis
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.
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: ESPN
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: ESPN
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: CBS Sports, ESPN, Programming Insider
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: ESPN
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: ESPN
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: ESPN
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: ESPN
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: ESPN
Jon Lewis
Saturday’s Sky-Fever WNBA regular season game averaged 2.7 million viewers on ABC, according to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic, which would mark the largest WNBA regular season audience since 2000. Including all WNBA telecasts, it ranks second among all games since 2000, trailing last year’s WNBA All-Star Game.
Earlier in the day, Aces-Liberty averaged 1.3 million.
For more on the numbers, see this article.
Source: The Athletic
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