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ESPN's WNBA Viewership Skyrocketed During 2024 Season
ESPN wrapped up its regular season WNBA coverage on Sunday with the New York Liberty's win over the Las Vegas Aces. And what a season it was.
According to Nielsen's numbers it was the most-viewed regular season ever across ESPN's various platforms with games averaging 1.2 million viewers. That's a 170% increase from 2023.
Not only are more people watching the games, but they're watching people talk about the games. WNBA Countdown with LaChina Robinson, Monica McNutt and Carolyn Peck saw an increase of 113% from 2023 with more than half a million viewers watching the pregame show.
The 2024 #WNBA regular season on ESPN platforms was the most-watched EVER! 🎉
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 11, 2024
🏀 1.2M avg. viewers
🏀 WNBA Countdown: 508K avg. viewers pic.twitter.com/FrnWHOp11h
To put it in technical terms, WNBA ratings are currently bananas.
The WNBA announced record ratings after the first month and things have not slowed down. Just a few weeks ago ESPN boasted about 2.2 million viewers for ABC's broadcast of the Indiana Fever's game against the Seattle Storm. Who knows how high the playoff ratings will go with Caitlin Clark making her postseason debut.
ESPN is set to broadcast every single WNBA postseason game between its various platforms.
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Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.