Even without Caitlin Clark, WNBA shatters viewership records on multiple networks
Caitlin Clark's 2024 WNBA season is off to a good start with surging interest in the competition. With the addition of the guard, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and more players during April's draft, more people became interested in the league.
With Clark leading the way, the league is seeing a major increase in viewership. The Indiana Fever's star first game was the most-watched game in the last 23 years with 2.12 million spectators tuning in.
The impact of the new players, especially Caitlin Clark, is visible when looking at the numbers. X account @VanshayM shared big news about the WNBA viewership in the first three weeks of competition.
The Indiana Fever vs. LA Sparks game from Friday set an ION WNBA viewership record with 724,000.
The following Fever game against the defending champion Las Vegas Aces had 333,000 people tuning in to NBA TV to watch, marking a record for the network.
Moreover, a game that didn't feature Clark also scored a high number of views. The New York Liberty vs. Minnesota Lynx game averaged 704,000 viewers on CBS, the most-watched WNBA game in the network's history.
Another X/Twitter user, @brianhemping, named two other games that recorded a high number of viewers on one of these networks.
Ion Network had three games with a large number of viewers, with the Fever vs. Sparks recording 724,000 viewers, the Mystics vs. Sun recording 290,000 viewers and the Storm vs. Lynx recording 266,000 viewers.
The exposure and attention the league is getting shows that it's on the right track to becoming more popular and making things better for its players, coaches and staffers.
Even though a group of fans claimed that the hype around the league already ended, numbers tell a different story. Tickets have been bought, fans are going to games, confirming that the competition is in a good position.
Caitlin Clark plays in front of 19,000 fans at Crypto.com Arena
Caitlin Clark is considered the leader of the new era in the WNBA, and the hype around her is real. On Friday, the Indiana Fever's young star played in front of 19,000 fans at Crypto.com Arena, where she won her first career game against the LA Sparks.
Stars like Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Jason Sudeikis, Klay Thompson and DeMar DeRozan were present to watch Caitlin Clark do her thing against Cameron Brink and company.