When Caitlin Clark is on national TV, the ratings go boom.
Saturday’s game between the Fever and Liberty averaged 2.2 million viewers on ABC. ESPN announced that viewership peaked at 2.8 million and was the third-most-watched WNBA game ever on ABC. The matchup drew 76% more viewers than the average regular-season WNBA game on ABC last year.
Clark had missed five games with a quad injury, during which time WNBA ratings sagged—although Indiana games even without Clark still did pretty well, all things considered, as Front Office Sports’s Colin Salao documented.
Clark scored 32 points, 21 of which came on seven three-pointers, in her return after missing games for the first time since high school.
The viewership numbers have been especially stout when Clark and the Fever compete on broadcast TV this season. Fever-Liberty also drew 2.2 million viewers last month for a Saturday afternoon game on CBS. Fever-Sky, featuring the rivalry between Clark and Chicago forward Angel Reese that dates back to college, drew 2.7 million viewers for ABC in the regular-season opener.
