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The minor altercation between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese during their first game of the season was noticed by many. It is the most talked-about topic regarding the WNBA. The young season needed this type of confrontation to continue last season’s streak of high views, television ratings, merchandise sales, and sold-out arenas. If last season had record numbers, I have no doubt that this season will too. Although it was just a common foul that happens in every game, Reese’s Oscar-worthy moment, combined with the millions of reactions on social media, made this the defining moment of the season.
WNBA Season Off to Historic Start with Record Viewership
Since 12.3 million people watched Reese’s LSU defeat Clark’s Iowa in the 2023 national championship game, this “rivalry” has always been under the spotlight, sometimes overshadowing the score. There is one guarantee when Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese meet on a basketball court. People will watch. Last June, the Fever and the Sky drew 2.25 million viewers for a game on CBS, marking the most-watched WNBA game in 23 years at the time. Now, Saturday’s game has taken the lead.
To illustrate with data rather than words, the Indiana Fever’s 93-58 blowout win over the Chicago Sky last Saturday drew 2.7 million viewers on ABC. This set a record as the most-viewed WNBA regular-season game on ESPN networks, and it is believed to be the most-viewed WNBA regular-season game in 25 years – since NBC aired the WNBA. The game peaked at 3.1 million viewers. If the season needed a great start, it certainly got one on television. In fact, I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard more talk about that brief moment between the players than about the NBA Conference Finals.
WNBA Season Ready For More
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s season has started like a dream. Not only did the game between the Fever and the Sky have more than a million viewers, but the earlier game on Saturday between the New York Liberty, the defending champions, and the Las Vegas Aces also averaged 1.3 million viewers on ABC. Add another game with more than a million viewers to the WNBA ledger. The Liberty, Aces, and Fever are the three teams favored to win the title, and their high level of play makes them the most popular teams-it’s data, not opinion.
The season continues, and this is just a preview of what awaits us in the coming months. Besides the WNBA, the biggest beneficiary of this is the CBS broadcast network, which will benefit from the attention this rivalry will bring. CBS will air two primetime matchups between the teams: the first on June 7 and the second on August 9, both Saturdays. The league has a legitimate shot at averaging three million viewers, which would be a significant milestone. Another game that could compete is the first matchup between Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings against Clark and the Fever on June 27 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, but that game is still far away.
This news was originally published on this post .
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