Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, #22, drives to the basket towards Atlanta Dream guard Destanni Henderson, #33, throughout a WNBA preseason sport at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Could 9, 2024.
Brian Spurlock | Icon Sportswire | Getty Photographs
The Ladies’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation’s viewership and attendance boomed in the course of the 2024 season, because the league’s recognition soared on account of younger stars comparable to Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
The league’s video games drew greater than 54 million distinctive viewers, an all-time report, throughout varied networks, together with Disney‘s ABC and ESPN, Paramount International’s CBS, E.W. Scripps’ Ion and NBA TV, amongst others, in accordance with knowledge the WNBA launched Friday.
As well as, WNBA sport attendance hit its highest degree in 22 years and grew nearly 50% from the 2023 season, in accordance with the league. There have been 154 sellout video games in the course of the yr, greater than triple the 45 sellouts in 2023.
The explosive metrics and recognition this season got here with a prime rookie class, together with Clark of the Indiana Fever and Reese of the Chicago Sky, and because the Las Vegas Aces made a bid for his or her third straight championship. The figures underscore why the league was in a position to appeal to a profitable new media rights deal and is in an enlargement section: The WNBA introduced this month it is going to be including a fifteenth staff in Portland within the 2026 season.
As consideration on the league elevated, extra gamers mentioned they skilled on-line harassment or racism. Requested in regards to the dynamic on CNBC earlier this month, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert didn’t explicitly condemn the vitriol towards gamers, sparking criticism from across the league.
She later clarified that she opposes “hate or racism.”
Clark’s affect additionally confirmed within the Fever’s attendance numbers. Each WNBA staff had a double-digit year-over-year improve in attendance. Nevertheless, the Fever had greater than a fourfold leap, considerably greater than the Los Angeles Sparks’ 69% development, which was second, in accordance with the WNBA.
The WNBA additionally noticed sizable development throughout merchandise and social engagement in the course of the season. WNBA social media accounts drew almost 2 billion video views, greater than quadruple the quantity from the 2023 season.
The heightened consideration has led to a $2.2 billion media rights contract for 11 seasons, with a worth reevaluation after the 2028 season, CNBC beforehand reported. WNBA media rights had been negotiated throughout the broader NBA settlement earlier this yr.
In the course of the rights negotiations — which led to a $77 billion, 11-year settlement in whole — the NBA had pushed to get more cash for the WNBA given its rising recognition.
In the course of the 2024 WNBA season, 22 common season sport telecasts averaged at the least 1 million viewers.
A number of particular person video games broke data for WNBA viewership on ESPN, and this was probably the most considered common season ever for ESPN, with a median of 1.19 million viewers, up 170% from final season, in accordance with the league. The 2024 season featured the seven most-watched WNBA video games of all time on ESPN, in addition to the highest two on ABC.
It was additionally probably the most watched common season ever for CBS Sports activities, with CBS Sports activities’ 5 most-watched WNBA video games ever, together with the Sky at Fever sport in June that averaged 2.25 million viewers.
The explosive viewership has carried into the postseason, as a Sept. 22 matchup between the Fever and Connecticut Solar attracted a report viewers, in accordance with ESPN. Clark’s Fever had been eradicated in two video games within the first spherical.
The league’s playoffs are actually within the semifinals, which function a rematch between the Aces and the New York Liberty, final yr’s runner-up.
