As Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark made her WNBA debut, the league broke records and attained its most-watched matchup in 23 years. Despite the 92-71 loss to the Connecticut Suns, Clark’s first regular season game in the WNBA garnered an average of 2.13 million viewers across ESPN2, ESPN+ and Disney+. Viewership for the matchup peaked in the 7:45-7:59 p.m. broadcast window at 2.3 million viewers. It is the most-watched WNBA game since the Los Angeles Sparks and Houston Comets played on Memorial Day of 2001 and averaged 2.44 million viewers on NBC.
The Indiana-Connecticut season opener represents the first time a WNBA game has surpassed an average of 1 million viewers in 16 years – the last occurrence of such taking place when Candace Parker made her debut for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2008. According to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, the previous high watermark for a WNBA game on ESPN networks took place in 2004 when Diana Taurasi made her career debut for the Phoenix Mercury against the Connecticut Sun, which averaged 1.43 million viewers on ABC.
Tuesday’s edition of WNBA Countdown averaged 680,000 viewers on ESPN2, ESPN+ and Disney+, which was up 126% over last year’s average on ABC and ESPN. Additionally, WNBA content on ESPN.com and the ESPN App amassed a 409% rise in unique visitors year-over-year. Moreover, engagement with WNBA content on ESPN social media accounts has increased 125% year-over-year as well.
Clark, the first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, has gained popularity and prestige over the last several years. To conclude her college basketball career with Iowa, she surpassed Pete Maravich to become the all-time scoring leader for NCAA Basketball and played in the National Championship Game for the second consecutive year. The former Iowa Hawkeyes guard will have her No. 22 jersey retired by the University of Iowa; it was announced as she departed the school.
During NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament play, games with the Hawkeyes established several viewership records. The quarterfinals rematch against the LSU Tigers drew an average of 12.3 million viewers, which broke the record for the most-watched college basketball game on ESPN platforms on record. Shortly thereafter, the semifinals game between Iowa and the UConn Huskies averaged 14.2 million viewers on ESPN, breaking the aforementioned record and becoming the most-watched college event ever on ESPN+.
The Final Four was up by 114% year-over-year with an average of 13.8 million viewers ahead of the National Championship game between Iowa and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The final matchup averaged 18.9 million viewers, the most-viewed college basketball game on record for ESPN platforms and best basketball game, pro or college, since 2017.
Thirty-six of the 40 Indiana Fever games will be disseminated by national media platforms, eight of which are on linear channels owned by The Walt Disney Company. ABC will broadcast the Fever’s matchup against Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Saturday at 1 p.m. EST.
