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Earlier this week, the WNBA matchup between the New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces drew 969,000 average viewers on ESPN2 making it the most-watched WNBA semifinal game in 22 years across all networks. The game notably did not feature the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark who have already been eliminated from the playoffs.
The game was the most-viewed WNBA playoff game ever on ESPN2 and peaked at 1.2 million viewers. The audience was up 222% from the three-game average of semifinal games on ESPN2 last year.
The other semifinal game between the Connecticut Sun and the Minnesota Lynx drew an average of 668,000 viewers, up 122% versus last year’s three-game semifinal average on ESPN2. That made it the second-most viewed non-finals WNBA playoff game ever on ESPN2.
ESPN also noted the WNBA Countdown show prior to the games was up 341% over last season’s full-playoff average on ESPN2.
Both series will have games on Friday and, if necessary, on Sunday.