Caitlin Clark's WNBA debut helps ESPN set viewership record for league game on network

Associated Press / May 15, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — ESPN’s broadcast of the Connecticut Sun’s game against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever had the highest viewership for a WNBA game on the network.

The Sun’s 92-71 win over the Fever in Clark’s WNBA debut on the league’s opening night on Tuesday drew an average of 2.1 million viewers on ESPN2, ESPN+ and Disney+, including a high of 2.3 million viewers between 7:45 p.m. and 7:59 p.m. That topped ESPN’s previous mark of nearly 1.5 million viewers for a Phoenix Mercury-Connecticut Sun game on May 22, 2004, in Diana Taurasi’s rookie season.

The second game between Phoenix and the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces averaged 464,000 viewers, with the two games averaging 1.28 million — a 192% increase over the league’s average last year for broadcasts on ESPN.

https://apnews.com/article/wnba-viewership-05c5fc42c19dc75c756d71e1b5fd9b73