WNBA scores most-watched semifinal game in two decades

Scheduling playoff games directly against the NFL isn’t usually advisable, but the WNBA has made it work two Sundays in a row.

Sunday’s Las Vegas Aces-New York Liberty semifinal game averaged 929,000 viewers per Nielsen, up 60% from Game 4 of the New York Liberty-Connecticut Sun semifinal last year (579,000), and up 27% from Game 1 of last year’s WNBA Finals (729,000; also Aces-Liberty) that aired in the same Sunday afternoon timeslot on ABC.

While not quite the seven-figure audiences the league has regularly captured during games featuring Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, Aces-Liberty set a 22-year record for a WNBA semifinal game. Viewership peaked at 1.2 million for the telecast.

Over on ESPN, Game 1 of Sun-Lynx averaged 654,000 viewers, up 33% versus what semifinal games averaged on the network one year ago. Per Sports Media Watch, the game garnered the largest semifinal audience on cable since 2000.

The numbers serve as another data point for an indisputably strong WNBA season from a viewership perspective, though it is Clark’s transcendent popularity that has brought in the truly astounding numbers. Game 1 of last week’s Fever-Sun series nearly doubled this week’s ABC window, averaging 1.8 million viewers per Nielsen, while also facing direct NFL competition.

Even in Clark’s absence, however, the WNBA continues to break decades-long records, no doubt drafting off the momentum the superstar has provided the league.

In just over a week, the WNBA will face yet another uphill battle when it comes to competing with football for eyeballs. Game 1 of the WNBA Finals will go up against Thursday Night Football while Game 2 is scheduled for a Sunday afternoon. The magnitude with which the NFL can pull viewers away from the WNBA is debatable, but it’s safe to say the league would prefer some easier competition.

[ESPN, Sports Media Watch]