If new proof of the impact of Caitlin Clark on the popularity of the WNBA, here it is. Sports Media Watch reports that Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs between the Fever and the Sun, Wednesday, marking the elimination of the rookie and his team, attracted an average of 2.54 million viewers on ESPN.
This is the highest audience ever recorded by the league on cable and the tenth across all channels. This is one of two games this season to rank among the ten most watched games in the league, like the All-Star Game on ABC in July (3.44 million).
This playoff match was the 26th WNBA broadcast this season to exceed one million viewers, Caitlin Clark having participated in… 22 of them (21 Fever games and the All-Star Game).
An overall increase
This year, the four highest audiences for the playoffs since 2003 have already been recorded: the two Fever-Sun matches, Game 2 Mercury-Lynx and Game 2 Storm-Aces (988,000 people). The first full round averaged 1.1 million viewers, the highest average at this stage of the competition.
Before this season, no women's championship game had reached one million spectators since Candace Parker's debut in 2008. From 2009 to 2023, the best audience in the league had not exceeded 913,000 people for Game 5 decisive of the 2017 Finals (Sparks-Lynx).
The most watched WNBA game of all time remains its very first: Liberty-Sparks on NBC in July 1997. This inaugural meeting was followed on average by 5.04 million viewers. But it was on a national channel, whereas ESPN is a cable channel, accessible by subscription.
