Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese Showdown Set TV Ratings Record, Beat Out College Football

The WNBA Rookie of the Year showdown shattered television ratings last Friday.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese helped set a new ION TV record on Friday. / Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Last Friday night's WNBA showdown between Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky set an ION television ratings record.

The matchup, which featured the two frontrunners for WNBA Rookie of the Year, brought in an average of 1.6 million viewers and peaked at 1.92 million viewers, according to a report from Jason Clinkscales of Sportico. It is the most-viewed game in the history of the ION network, and it beat out every college football game that aired on various networks on Friday night in ratings.

Clark is obviously a key reason for the ratings jump across the WNBA this season, as out of the 21 games that have drawn at least one million viewers, 18 of them have included Clark and the Fever. Reese has brought plenty of fanfare of her own to the WNBA, so it's no surprise that the late-season matchup featuring the duo shattered WNBA television records.

It's been a particularly strong season for WNBA basketball on the ION network, as games this season have averaged 639,000 viewers, which represents a 123% increase compared to the average of 287,000 viewers last year.

The Fever have locked themselves into a playoff spot, while the Sky, who are losers of seven straight, still have some work to do to clinch the No. 8 seed. With seven games remaining in the regular season, Chicago holds the No 8 spot via tiebreak at 11-22 on the year. The Atlanta Dream are also 11-22, while the Washington Mystics are one game behind at 10-23.

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