Caitlin Clark Effect: WNBA Season Sets Record Viewership Numbers

The WNBA set record viewership numbers this season, with star athletes Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink fueling the surge.

As noted by Front Office Sports, the WNBA had hoped its viewership growth over the past decade would break into new territory with the 2024 season due to the addition of top names like Caitlin Clark, whose star power in the NCAA women’s championship led to more viewers than the men’s title game, which was followed by a record number of viewers (2.45 million) for the WNBA draft. The gamble paid off. Per the report:

Clark’s Indiana Fever debut on ESPN averaged more than two million viewers, besting any WNBA game in decades. The Fever played Reese and the Chicago Sky four times this season, and ESPN, CBS, and Scripps Sports’ Ion each had its most-watched regular-season game of the year from one of those matchups.

ESPN announced last week that it averaged a record 1.2 million viewers for WNBA regular-season games across its platforms, up 170% versus last year. Perhaps more surprising is that ESPN’s pregame show WNBA Countdown, which averaged 508,000 viewers in 2024, up 113% from last year, drew more than the average viewership for WNBA games from last year, which was 453,900 across ESPN networks.

Ion, which started broadcasting WNBA games last season, announced Thursday a viewership increase of 133% versus 2023. It also reported the largest percentage of female viewers of any network airing WNBA games, with 50% of its audience ages 18–49.

While the WNBA has not yet released attendance records for this season, Across The Timeline recently reported that the league saw a 47 percent increase in ticket sales for the final six games.

As Breitbart News reported this week, Caitlin Clark has become so popular in the WNBA that the league will add a new expansion team.

“Indiana Fever star rookie Caitlin Clark is so popular that the Women’s National Basketball Association is adding a brand new expansion team to the league, according to reports,” it reported.

“With the huge spike in popularity that Clark and several other rookies have brought to the WNBA, the league is looking to start up a new team in Portland, Oregon,” it added.