The WNBA All-Star Game, a matchup between all-star players in the WNBA and the members of Team USA’s women’s basketball team heading to the Olympics, broke a viewership record for the exhibition contest. The matchup averaged 3.44 million viewers on ABC, the largest audience attained by the WNBA since the second game in league history was played in June 1997. In 2003, the first WNBA All-Star Game to air on broadcast television, ABC established a record when it averaged 1.44 million viewers for the contest. The game peaked with 4.05 million viewers from 10:30 to 10:43 p.m. EST. Compared to last year’s All-Star Game broadcast, which averaged 850,000 viewers on ABC, viewership was up 305%.
This contest attained more viewers than the NHL All-Star Game on ABC and the NASCAR All-Star Race on FS1, according to data from Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch. The game featured several star players on both teams, including Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Angel Reese. The league is currently in the midst of a hiatus because of the Olympics, with events for the international competition slated to begin on Wednesday.
“This weekend’s extraordinary viewership underscores women’s sports’ exponential growth,” Julie Sobieski, senior vice president of league programming and acquisitions, said in a statement provided to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic, “and ESPN is proud to showcase this incredible league and its exceptional athletes on such a grand stage.”
The game aired on ABC in prime time for the second consecutive year and ended in a 117-109 victory for the WNBA All-Star team. No WNBA game had surpassed an average of 1 million viewers in 16 years leading up to the new season. The league has already accomplished this feat 17 teams including the All-Star Game, with games airing on a variety of linear television networks and streaming services.
Pregame coverage on WNBA Countdown drew an average of 1.57 million viewers, the largest audience for the program in its history and up 59% year-over-year. Moreover, the postgame coverage averaged 3 million viewers, which was up 283% year-over-year.
WNBA All-Star Friday Night, which features the Kia WNBA Skills Challenge and WNBA Starry 3-Point Contest, averaged 695,000 viewers on ESPN. This is representative of a 142% year-over-year increase after the broadcast last year averaged 288,000 viewers on the network. Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray made history by becoming the first player to win both WNBA events.
Last week, the NBA reportedly finalized a new 11-year media rights deal worth $76 billion. Within these negotiations, the WNBA will reportedly receive $2.2 billion for its broadcast rights over the 11 years and could sell two more rights packages that could bring in another $60 million annually, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
