You’re tuning into Monday’s 2024 WNBA Draft.
Boy, you already did it.
Monday’s draft, featuring Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and a ton of other star college basketball players, averaged a record 2.446 million viewers, a staggering increase of 307 for hundred of the audience compared to last year.
The previous audience record for a WNBA draft was in 2004, for Diana Taurasi’s draft year. This attracted 601,000 viewers. Last year, ESPN averaged 572,000 viewers, a 42% increase from 2022 and the most-watched WNBA draft since 2004.
What traditionally generates a lot of viewership for the NBA and NFL drafts are well-known college players (think Zion Williamson) and star players (think Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa). This is the case even if the audience has an idea of who will be chosen first.
This WNBA draft had an endless supply of recognized players and a transcendent audience evident in Clark. He has never experienced such momentum.
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Is Caitlin Clark’s star power strong enough to increase WNBA fandom?
South Carolina’s 87-75 victory over Iowa on April 7 averaged 18.9 million viewers, the most-watched women’s college basketball game of all time and the highest-ranked basketball game most watched university (male or female) ever recorded for an ESPN platform. Viewership increased 90% compared to the 2023 national championship (9.9 million for LSU’s victory against Iowa) and 289% compared to 2022 (4.9 million viewers for the Carolina victory South vs. UConn). The game peaked at 24 million viewers on ABC and ESPN in the final 15 minutes.
The 2024 NCAA Women’s Final Four was the most watched on record, averaging 13.8 million viewers. Those numbers included 14.4 million viewers for Iowa-UConn (the second most-watched women’s college game on record) and 7.2 million viewers for NC State and South Carolina. The entire tournament (57 matches) on ESPN platforms attracted an average of 2.2 million viewers, an increase of 121% compared to 2023.
It was the most-watched women’s NCAA tournament since ESPN acquired exclusive rights in 1996.
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(Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)