Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, No. 22, drives to the basket against Atlanta Dream guard Destaney Henderson, No. 33, during a WNBA preseason game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 9, 2024.
Brian Spurlock | Sportswire Icon | Getty Images
Viewership and attendance have boomed in the Women's National Basketball Association during the 2024 season, as the league's popularity has soared due to young stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reyes.
League matches attracted more than 54 million unique viewers, an all-time record, across various networks, including DisneyABC and ESPN, Paramount Globalcbs, E. W. Scripps Ion and NBA TV, among others, according to data released by the WNBA on Friday.
Additionally, attendance at WNBA games reached a 22-year high and grew nearly 50% compared to the 2023 season, according to the league. There were 154 games sold out during the year, more than three times the 45 games sold in 2023.
The explosive metrics and popularity came this season with a high-profile rookie class, including Clark of the Indiana Fever and Reese of the Chicago Sky, and with the Las Vegas Aces making a bid for a third straight championship. The numbers underscore why the league has been able to attract a lucrative new media rights deal while in the expansion phase: The WNBA announced this month that it will add a 15th team in Portland in the 2026 season.
As interest in the league has grown, more players have said they have faced harassment or racism online. When asked about the dynamic on CNBC earlier this month, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert did not explicitly condemn the vitriol toward players, drawing criticism from around the league.
She later clarified that she opposes “hatred or racism.”
Clark's influence was also evident in Fever's attendance numbers. Each WNBA team had a double-digit increase in attendance year over year. However, the Fever jumped more than four-fold, much more than the Los Angeles Sparks' 69% growth, which ranked second, according to the WNBA.
The WNBA also saw significant growth across merchandise and social engagement during the season. The WNBA's social media accounts have attracted nearly 2 billion video views, more than four times the number recorded in the 2023 season.
The increased interest has led to a $2.2 billion media rights deal for 11 seasons, with prices to be reassessed after the 2028 season, CNBC previously reported. The WNBA's media rights were negotiated within the broader NBA agreement earlier this year.
During the rights negotiations — which led to an 11-year, $77 billion deal — the NBA sought more money for the WNBA due to its growing popularity.
During the 2024 WNBA season, telecasts of the 22 regular season games averaged at least 1 million viewers.
Several individual games broke WNBA viewership records on ESPN, and this was ESPN's most-watched regular season ever, averaging 1.19 million viewers, up 170% from last season, according to the league. The 2024 season featured the seven most-watched WNBA games ever on ESPN, as well as the top two on ABC.
It was also the most-watched regular season ever for CBS Sports, with the five most-watched WNBA games ever on CBS Sports, including the Sky at Fever game in June which averaged 2.25 million viewers.
The explosive viewership continued into the postseason, with the Sept. 22 game between the Fever and Connecticut Sun drawing a record number of viewers, according to ESPN. Clarke's fever was wiped out in two games in the first round.
The league playoffs have now reached the semifinals, which includes a rematch between the Aces and the New York Liberty, last year's runner-up.
