Caitlin Clark's first game in the WNBA brought in the viewers.
The highly-anticipated debut game for the first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft drew an average of 2.1 million viewers, the most for a WNBA game since 2001.
Perhaps what was more impressive about the viewership draw for the Tuesday night game between Clark's Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun was that the game was aired on ESPN2, while 2001 game that last breached 2.1 million viewers was a Memorial Day game on NBC.
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The WNBA game was also competing with the NBA Playoff game between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers which was airing on ESPN. The NBA's opening night doubleheader in October averaged 2.8 million viewers on TNT, the league's least-watched opening night since 2014.
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ESPN's opening games on Wednesday, Oct. 25 had an average audience of 2.7 million viewers across two games, with the debut of top prospect Victor Wembanyama averaging close to 3 million viewers as the night cap.
For another comparison, Major League Baseball's ESPN opening game on March 28 between the defending champion Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs garnered 1.6 million viewers.
More Women’s Basketball:
- The harsh reality behind the shockingly low WNBA contracts
- Is Caitlin Clark losing money by going to the WNBA? Here are both sides of the argument
- WNBA Commissioner has big plans for the league's next media rights deal
Clark has been a massive viewership draw in the NCAA level over the past year, including setting a record 18.7 million viewers for the NCAA Championship game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the South Carolina Gamecocks last month.
Tonight, Clark and the Fever play their home opener against Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and the New York Liberty at 7 p.m. ET exclusively on Prime Video.
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