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
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
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.
Source: Rebecca Lobo, Programming Insider
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: Programming Insider
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: Programming Insider
Jon Lewis
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.
Source: ESPN
Jon Lewis
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).
Source: Programming Insider, Programming Insider
Jon Lewis
Sunday’s WNBA preseason game between the Indiana Fever and Brazilian national team, which took place from Clark’s alma mater at Iowa, averaged 1.3 million viewers on ESPN — a figure that exceeds all-but-two NBA preseason games on the network dating back to 2010.
Indiana’s blowout win was the 34th WNBA telecast in the past year to average a seven-figure audience, with Clark having figured in 26. Prior to Clark being drafted last year, no WNBA telecast had attracted a million viewers since 2008.
Source: Flora Kelly/ESPN
Jon Lewis
Monday’s WNBA Draft averaged 1.25 million viewers on ESPN, down by nearly half from last year’s record audience of 2.45 million, but considerably higher than any other draft in league history. Prior to last year, the high water mark was 601,000 in 2004.
For more on the numbers, see this article.
Source: ESPN
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