Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, #22, drives to the basket against Atlanta Dream guard Destanni Henderson, #33, during a WNBA preseason game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 9, 2024.
Brian Spurlock | Sports Icon | fake images
Viewership and attendance for the Women's National Basketball Association increased during the 2024 season, as the league's popularity soared thanks to young stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
League matches attracted more than 54 million unique viewers, an all-time record, across multiple networks, including disneyABC and ESPN, Paramount Global's CBS, E.W. Scripps Ion and NBA TV, among others, according to data the WNBA released on Friday.
Additionally, attendance at WNBA games reached its highest level in 22 years and grew nearly 50% since the 2023 season, according to the league. There were 154 sold-out games during the year, more than triple the 45 sold-out games in 2023.
This season's explosive metrics and popularity came with a top-tier rookie class, including Indiana Fever's Clark and Chicago Sky's Reese, and when the Las Vegas Aces made a bid for their third straight championship. The numbers underscore why the league was able to attract a lucrative new media rights deal and is in an expansion phase: The WNBA announced this month it will add a 15th team in Portland in the 2026 season.
As attention on the league increased, more players said they had experienced online harassment or racism. When asked about the dynamic on CNBC earlier this month, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert did not explicitly condemn the vitriol toward the players, drawing criticism across the league.
He later clarified that he opposes “hate or racism.”
Clark's impact was also shown in the Fever's attendance figures. Every WNBA team had a double-digit year-over-year attendance increase. However, the Fever had a more than four-fold increase, significantly more than the 69% growth of the second-place Los Angeles Sparks, according to the WNBA.
The WNBA also saw considerable growth in merchandise and social engagement during the season. The WNBA's social media accounts garnered nearly 2 billion video views, more than quadruple the number from the 2023 season.
The increased attention has led to a $2.2 billion media rights deal over 11 seasons, with a re-evaluation of pricing after the 2028 season, CNBC previously reported. The WNBA's media rights were negotiated within the broader NBA deal earlier this year.
During the rights negotiations, which led to a $77 billion deal over 11 years in total, the NBA had pushed for more money for the WNBA given its growing popularity.
During the 2024 WNBA season, 22 broadcasts of regular season games averaged at least 1 million viewers.
Several individual games broke WNBA viewership records on ESPN, and this was the most-watched regular season ever for ESPN, averaging 1.19 million viewers, up 170% from last season, according to the league. The 2024 season featured the seven most-watched WNBA games of all time on ESPN, as well as the top two on ABC.
It was also the most-watched regular season in CBS Sports history, with CBS Sports' five most-watched WNBA games including the Sky at Fever game in June that averaged 2.25 million viewers.
The explosive viewership has carried over into the postseason, as the Fever's Sept. 22 matchup against the Connecticut Sun drew record viewership, according to ESPN. The Clark Fever were eliminated in two games in the first round.
The league playoffs are now in the semifinals, which feature a rematch between the Aces and the New York Liberty, last year's runner-up.
