The WNBA Finals ended in a four-game sweep for its first ever best-of-seven series, but that didn’t deter fans from tuning in at near-record numbers.
This year’s WNBA Finals between the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury averaged 1.5 million viewers across ESPN and ABC, down slightly from last year’s five-game thriller between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx (1.6 million viewers), but still good for the second most-watched Finals since ESPN began airing the series in 2003.
Game 1 of the series, which drew 1.9 million viewers, was the second-largest Finals audience since 2000, according to Sports Media Watch. The series was also the third in WNBA history in which every game surpassed one million viewers, joining 2024 and 1998. Interestingly, Game 2, the lone game on ABC, drew the smallest audience at 1.2 million viewers (though the matchup faced direct NFL competition). Game 3 saw an uptick to 1.3 million viewers on ESPN. And the Game 4 clincher drew 1.4 million viewers, also on ESPN.
As for the WNBA postseason as a whole, ESPN saw a 5% year-over-year increase, averaging 1.2 million viewers per telecast. Considering the Finals went the minimum number of games, and Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark did not participate in this year’s playoffs, an increase over last year’s figure is a big win for the league.
It should be noted, this postseason was the first in which the WNBA was measured under Nielsen’s new methodologies, including an expanded out-of-home viewing and Big Data + Panel measurements, both of which have served to boost live sports viewership versus historical comparisons.
Next season, for the first time in 23 years, ESPN will not exclusively air the WNBA Finals. Assuming a work stoppage does not sideline the league for the entire year, next season’s WNBA Finals will be split between NBC and its soon-to-launch spinoff entity Versant, which will air select games on USA Network. The WNBA Finals will rotate between NBC/Versant, ESPN, and Prime Video for the next decade-plus as part of the NBA’s 11-year agreements which begin later this month.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.