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Reuters
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Paige Bueckers' WNBA debut drives huge ratings bump
May 21 - Folks already know about Caitlin Clark's popularity, but the WNBA might have discovered its newest television ratings bump in 2025 top overall draft pick Paige Bueckers. According to a report from Front Office Sports, Friday's opening-night game between Bueckers' Dallas Wings and the Minnesota Lynx, coupled with the back-half of that doubleheader, averaged over 612,000 viewers, which was a 121 percent increase over a comparable window from the previous season. Due to the Clark effect, Ion's 43 games broadcasted last year averaged 677,000 viewers, a 133 percent increase from 2023 -- before Clark's rookie season with the Indiana Fever. But removing Clark games from the equation, Friday's two broadcasts -- the late contest was the first game for the expansion Golden State Valkyries vs. the Los Angeles Sparks -- were the second- and third-most watched games ever on Ion, per Sports Media Watch. Ion announced on Tuesday the viewership was 649,000 for Lynx-Wings and 581,000 for Sparks-Valykyries. Bueckers was a three-time All-American at the University of Connecticut and the national player of the year in 2021. She had career averages of 19.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.1 steals for the Huskies, becoming the sixth UConn player to be selected first in the WNBA draft. The rookie finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in 30 minutes for the Wings in a 99-84 home loss. --Field Level Media
Reuters
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese rivalry game draws big ratings
May 20 - Saturday's game between the Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky drew an average of 2.7 million viewers on ABC, making it the most watched WNBA regular-season contest in 25 years, per Sports Media Watch. The game, which peaked at 3.1 million viewers, drew the league's second-largest average audience for any event -- save for last year's WNBA All-Star Game (3.44 million). It was the largest regular-season audience since Memorial Day 2000. The Fever thrashed the rival Sky 93-58, with Clark recording a triple-double and picking up her first flagrant foul as a pro. Clark fouled Angel Reese to prevent a clear layup, and Reese was incensed and shouted at her for several moments after the whistle. Clark's foul was upgraded after review to a flagrant-1, and Reese received two free throws. The WNBA is investigating allegations of hateful comments or noises made toward the players during the incident. A video shared on social media showed a male fan -- wearing a red replica Caitlin Clark jersey with matching shorts -- sitting courtside and making high-pitched noises while Reese shot a free throw with 4:38 left in the third quarter. On Sunday, the WNBA released a statement saying that it was "aware of the allegations" and looking into the matter. --Field Level Media
USA Today
18-04-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Adam Silver seems to credit Luka Doncic trade for late-season rise in NBA ratings
Adam Silver seems to credit Luka Doncic trade for late-season rise in NBA ratings This season, there has been lots of talk about the drop in NBA ratings on television. Many have had various theories on why those ratings have been down, ranging from too many 3-point attempts, homogenized halfcourt offenses, load management and too much competition from other sports and events during the fall. While viewership was down significantly early in the season — according to Sports Media Watch, it was down by about 20% at the time — it rebounded afterward. After the trade deadline, viewership increased by 16% compared to prior to the deadline, excluding opening day and Christmas games. It appears that a major factor in that rebound is the monumental trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Several of the Lakers' marquee games following the Doncic trade got outstanding television ratings, and commissioner Adam Silver seemed to acknowledge this during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Thursday. "I think you saw tremendous competition around the league, teams playing for playoff seeding, teams playing to get into the playoffs, healthy stars, a trade that attracted a lot of attention," Silver said. "A bunch of things happened in the league that generated a lot of interest." Overall, NBA viewership for the entire regular season was only down 2% from last season. Even though games on ESPN and TNT were down 7%, contests shown on ABC got average ratings that were 10% higher than last season. By comparison, the NFL, the nation's most popular pro sports league, also saw a 2% decline in ratings for the 2024 season, while college football and college basketball, both of which are wildly popular, saw greater decreases in viewership.
