The WNBA’s season-long surge in recognition reveals no signal of abating, because the 2024 All-Star Recreation left the earlier scores report within the mud.
In response to Nielsen live-plus-same-day information, Sunday night time’s exhibition, which pitted rookie stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese in opposition to the U.S. ladies’s nationwide crew, averaged 3.44 million viewers on ABC, up 139% versus the earlier high-water mark set in 2003 (1.44 million).
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Group WNBA’s 117-109 win now stands because the third most-watched outing within the league’s historical past, trailing solely NBC’s opening-weekend salvo in June 1997, when the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks squared off in entrance of 5.04 million viewers on a Saturday afternoon, and the next day’s Charlotte Sting-Phoenix Mercury conflict (3.59 million).
Sunday night time’s All-Star effort marks the seventeenth time this season that an WNBA broadcast has delivered north of 1 million viewers, which is of specific curiosity given how out-of-reach the seven-figure tally had been earlier than Clark arrived on the scene. Previous to this season, a WNBA recreation hadn’t served up 1 million viewers since 2008.
The previous Iowa standout has been instrumental in supersizing the league’s TV deliveries; since Clark first suited up for the Indiana Fever again in Might, the guard has appeared in 15 of the league’s highest-rated 17 telecasts, together with every of the highest 10.
The revenge theme proved to be a novel twist on the usual All-Star format—Clark and recreation MVP Arike Ogunbowale visibly reveled of their alternative to sock it to the squad of Paris-bound veterans—however viewers have been additionally handled to an precise competitors. Whereas their NBA counterparts in February put within the typical present of look-Ma-no-effort throughout their very own All-Star scrimmage, Sunday’s recreation at instances nearly gave off a playoff vibe. Living proof: Clark was persistently double-teamed by her Olympian counterparts.
Ogunbowale put up a report excessive 34 factors, edging Group USA’s Breanna Stewart (31) for high honors, whereas Clark’s 10 assists almost matched Sue Fowl’s 2017 ASG report (11). Among the many extra established Paris-bound bunch, A’ja Wilson scored 22 factors, Diana Taurasi notched 14 and Brittney Griner added 10 from the bench.
In line with Disney’s efforts to develop the WNBA viewers, this 12 months’s recreation was the second straight to air in ABC prime. Final 12 months’s broadcast averaged 850,000 viewers; on the time, it earned bragging rights because the league’s most-watched All-Star Recreation in 16 years.
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