The WNBA has recorded its most-watched season ever on ESPN networks, averaging 1.37 million viewers during the regular season, a 17% increase from the previous year. This figure marks the highest average in the network's history since it began broadcasting the league in 1997. Individually, ABC averaged 1.56 million viewers, while ESPN averaged 1.24 million, reflecting increases of 9% and 32% respectively.
Read More
It's notable that comparisons for this season are made against last year’s audience data based solely on Nielsen's panel metrics, as the previous season also coincided with the beginning of the new Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” evaluation. When compared to last year’s Big Data and Panel figures, ESPN/ABC's average grew a modest 7%, up from 1.3 million.
ESPN specifically enjoyed a strong finish to its regular season, with the Lynx-Fever matchup drawing an average of 1.9 million viewers on Tuesday night, representing the network's fourth-largest audience of the season. The top three most-watched games involved the Fever in August: Fever-Dream with 2.58 million, Liberty-Fever with 2.01 million, and Fever-Tempo with 1.85 million. Overall, games not featuring the Fever averaged 984,000 viewers, a 24% increase from last season.
Across the broader landscape of WNBA broadcasting, NBC secured the highest average viewership with 1.75 million across its seven-game schedule, including a peak of 3.31 million for the Fever-Sky game on August 23. CBS also surpassed one million viewers, averaging 1.275 million for an expanded 20-game schedule, a rise of 9% from last season’s nine-game average of 1.17 million. However, it noted a slight decrease compared to last season’s Big Data + Panel figure.
CBS’s most-viewed game was Liberty-Fever in July, which attracted 2.58 million viewers. Although the network ended its season with 751,000 viewers for the Mercury-Wings game, which took place simultaneously with college football, 14 of its 20 broadcasts surpassed the one-million mark.
Four networks this season—NBC, ABC, ESPN, and CBS—averaged at least one million viewers for their WNBA coverage. Conversely, Scripps-owned ION averaged 617,000 for its regional game broadcasts, down 2% from last year’s figure, and its highest viewership came from the Fever-Wings game in August with 1.62 million.
Prime Video wrapped up its first Nielsen-rated WNBA season with an average of 437,000 viewers, having significantly increased its presence as a key broadcast partner this season. Its top game also featured the Fever-Wings matchup, garnering 1.07 million viewers.
Final viewership data from USA Network, which covered the season's concluding games, awaits confirmation, but its highest viewership to date was 1.14 million for the Fever-Valkyries game in July. Comprehensive viewership statistics for all networks will be tallied and released after all figures are finalized on Monday.