2024 WNBA All-Star Game Obliterates 21-Year-Old Viewership Record

This is the 17th time this WNBA season that a game hit at least one million viewers.
Jul 20, 2024; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Team WNBA player Arike Ogunbowale celebrates with Caitlin Clark and Allisha Gray after making a three point shot during the second half against the USA Women's National Team at Footprint Center.
Jul 20, 2024; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Team WNBA player Arike Ogunbowale celebrates with Caitlin Clark and Allisha Gray after making a three point shot during the second half against the USA Women's National Team at Footprint Center. / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The WNBA has been breaking and making viewership records all season, and Saturday's All-Star Game's final numbers continued this trend.

The 2024 All-Star Game became the most watched ASG in the WNBA's history as the ABC broadcast brought in 3.44 million viewers, per The Athletic's Richard Deitsch. The previous record for the All-Star Game was set at 1.441 million viewers back in 2003.

This viewership count now puts the 2024 All-Star Game as the third-most watched WNBA game in history, behind two games from the league's opening weekend in 1997. The game was the highest-viewed WNBA game on any ESPN broadcast. This also makes the All-Star Game the most watched contest of the season so far.

Now there's been 17 WNBA games this season to hit at least one million viewers. It's quite the feat considering no WNBA game hit that mark in any of the previous 16 seasons.

Various Indiana Fever games including rookie star Caitlin Clark have brought in record audiences from the past 23 years. The Fever game vs. the Chicago Sky on June 23 capped at 2.302 million viewers on ESPN, which is just below the regular season record of the 2.44 million viewers who watched the Los Angeles Sparks and Houston Comets on NBC in 2001. It was the third time this season Clark has appeared in a game that's drawn viewership nearly on par with that 2001 matchup.

Team WNBA beat Team USA in the All-Star Game 117–109 on Saturday night in Phoenix.


Published
Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.