WNBA 2024 Postseason Playoffs Drew Highest Viewership Ratings in 25 Years
It’s been quite the year. A season of record breaking attendance, merchandise sales, social media reach and a new television media deal. This explosion has been fun and exciting to witness and it has even carried over into the playoffs. In fact, the WNBA 2024 Postseason playoffs drew the highest Viewership ratings in 25 Years!
Yes, the women are continuing to do numbers. As Sportcal reports:
“The previous record for Game 1 was 1.07 million in the 1998 series between Phoenix Mercury and the Houston Comets, broadcast on ESPN and Lifetime.
The 2024 Game 1 was the 27th WNBA telecast this season to reach the one million-viewer mark. Before this year’s edition, the most million viewer audiences in a single season was 15 in 1998. Of the 27 telecasts, Game 1 was only the third that did not feature or directly follow icon Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
The match aired at the same time as NFL Thursday Night Football and the Major League Baseball Postseason. Last week the WNBA, in its 2024 post-season playoffs, drew the highest viewership ratings in 25 years.
Aired on Disney-owned sports broadcasting giant ESPN, the first 17 games of the 2024 playoffs, which saw the initial eight teams whittled down to two, averaged more than double the average in the 2023 season and the highest average across the first round and semi-finals of the playoffs since 1997, the WNBA’s inaugural campaign.”
WNBA 2024 Postseason Playoffs Drew Highest Viewership Ratings in 25 Years
These numbers are truly exciting. And for a number of reasons. First of all, these postseason games had to do some serious competing against the biggest sports in the world.
The WNBA postseason begins as the NFL gets underway, MLB gets close to their own postseason and continues on as the NBA preseason nears. Therefore, men and women have to make a choice. Which game and which sport? Since often scheduling is not the best and several sports tend to overlap each other’s time slots.
So then, for women’s basketball to be able to still have a nice size audience as male dominated sports come into play is a very good sign. Plus, the WNBA 2024 postseason actually broke records. Showing that interest remains high.
Secondly, the WNBA’s major draw, Caitlin Clark had an early exit from the postseason. Yet still, the league was able to do numbers and see an increase in viewership. Another really good sign that things are changing for the better. Yes, we all love seeing Clark compete, but her popularity has led to exposure for other teams and players; while increasing interest overall in the WNBA.
Moreover, the league had seen steady growth over the last few years, but this new large infusion of fans thanks to a dynamic draft class with Clark, Cameron Brink, Rickea Jackson, Angel Reese and Kate Martin; really helped put things over the top.
As one can see, the future looks bright. The W is going in the right direction. Now we wait to see how the CBA situation shakes out.
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