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INDIANAPOLIS — Viewership in the WNBA is skyrocketing. And ESPN, which has been broadcasting WNBA games since the league’s inception in 1997, wants to continue to be in the middle of it.
The WNBA had a record-setting season of viewership in 2024, as multiple years of growth since the ‘Wubble’ in 2020 intersected with the catalyst that was Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark and the 2024 rookie class.
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“I would say it wasn’t just the Caitlin Clark effect, but she has certainly contributed to it since she’s been part of our popular culture,” ESPN VP of studio production Hilary Guy told IndyStar. “But I would say this, this coming out of the Wubble in 2020, and that first season back, that’s where I think you really, you really saw interest and intentionality from viewers to follow WNBA-specific storylines.”
Viewership shot up across all networks that aired WNBA and Fever games in 2024, and ESPN specifically saw a 170% increase in viewership between ‘23 and ‘24. The network averaged 1.19 million viewers per game between ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.
It rose across the league, but a lot of it had to do with Clark and the Fever. Indiana and Chicago had the most-watched game of the season in 2024, generating 2.3 million viewers on ESPN on June 23.
Indiana was also a part of each of the top-watched WNBA games in ABC network history — 2.23 million when Seattle visited Indiana on Aug. 18 and 1.71 million when Indiana visited New York on May 18.
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The viewership spike even went past the Fever’s time in the playoffs: the WNBA Finals between New York and Minnesota averaged 1.6 million viewers last season, up 115% from 2023.
“The amount of records broken last season was incredible,” ESPN director of programming Johanna Goldblatt told IndyStar. “… It was just a real big movement for women’s sports. I mean, we were up triple digits in so many categories, which you just don’t see too often these days. It was amazing to be a part of. And I think just as exciting as the Indiana games that would break the records, it was also the fans that stuck around when Indiana was eliminated from the playoffs, and seeing records in the Finals at triple digits as well.”
Now, ESPN is in the final stages of preparation for the 2025 season — and a lot of their plans include the Fever. Indiana has a league-record 41 games televised nationally this season, ranging from ABC, ESPN, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ION, Prime Video and NBA TV.
ESPN’s family of networks will air 10 of the Fever’s games throughout the season, with five on ABC and five on ESPN. The Fever have the most ESPN/ABC games of any team — the reigning champion Liberty trail with nine.
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At this point, broadcasting Fever games as much as possible seems like a no-brainer. ESPN picked up Indiana’s preseason game against the Brazilian National team on May 4, broadcasting Clark’s return to her alma mater at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.
That game, a preseason game at that, attracted 1.3 million viewers.
“Knowing that with Caitlin on the team, and how good that team is as a whole beyond just Caitlin, does attract decision-making on my side to say, ‘Okay, how are we covering this game?’” Guy said. “… the Fever matchups are a high priority for us. That is to say that they’re as high priority for us just as much as other matchups and teams.”
The number of Fever games on national television trumps even that of the reigning champion New York Liberty, which has 32, and the runner-up Minnesota Lynx, which has 21.
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That stark difference in national TV games, along with games on legacy networks like ESPN, can lead to disparities in visibility across the league, Lynx star and MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier said on First Take in March.
“Obviously people want to watch Caitlin play, and so you have to put the people on TV that people want to see,” Collier said. “But at the same time, there’s stars all over the league. You want good basketball as well. Obviously Indiana, especially with their free agents, they’re going to be a great team. But to not have the defending champs on TV more, I think it’s kind of crazy. I mean, it doesn’t have to be where you’re taking games away from Indiana. But I think you can raise the level of TV games for the other teams as well.”
It’s tough to balance, Guy said, with so many storylines popping out of the WNBA this year. Along with the Fever, there’s been ample player movement across the league, teams rebuilding through the draft and free agency, and teams hoping to repeat or get revenge when the playoffs come around.
It’s something Guy hopes to cover as fully and consistently as possible.
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“I firmly believe that the storylines in the W beyond Caitlin and the Fever — which are so exciting in itself, and so exciting to cover — the storylines in the W are high-level and high-interest,” Guy said. “Whether it’s Napheesa and what she’s doing in Minnesota, or Kelsey Plum, now that she’s in Los Angeles, what is that going to look like? … It’s about shining a spotlight on the storylines that I think will bring viewers across the entire league.”
ESPN’s coverage of the Fever will start right away, as the network’s No. 1 broadcast team of Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo and Holly Rowe will be in Indianapolis for Indiana’s season-opener against the Sky at 3 p.m., Saturday. It’s the second game of a doubleheader on ESPN, following New York-Las Vegas at 1 p.m.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Caitlin Clark, Fever broke TV records. How ESPN balances other WNBA storylines
