WNBA viewership on Ion more than doubled from a year ago, according to the Scripps-owned network.
The network’s WNBA Friday Night Spotlight averaged 670,000 viewers per game, a 133% increase from 2023. A big part of the boost came from the seven telecasts that averaged over 1 million viewers, including the Aug. 30 nationally televised game between Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky that brought in an Ion-record 1.6 million viewers. Clark-mania was a national phenomenon that also helped lift local ratings for the second part of that doubleheader between the Minnesota Lynx and Dallas Wings.
All seven of the million-plus viewership games involved the Fever, including games against the defending champion Las Vegas Aces, the Phoenix Mercury and the Lynx.
A particularly telling data point on the season was that viewership among men between the ages of 25 and 54—part of the standard 25-54 demo networks have traditionally sold to advertisers—grew by 181%, Ion said.
Not to be outdone by the men, Ion had the largest female audience of the WNBA’s media partners with 45% of total viewers and 50% of the coveted age 18-49 selling demo.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was thrilled about the numbers on Ion, which signed on as the league’s third media partner prior to the 2023 season. “Through this partnership, we’ve been able to showcase great basketball with a broader audience, deepening the connection between the league, the players and our growing fanbase while delivering record-breaking viewership numbers,” Engelbert said in a statement.
Because of the upward trajectory of the W, including the arrival of Clark, more than 20 new advertisers bought commercial time on Ion’s WNBA telecasts. Those advertisers benefited from an almost doubled amount of reach—23.37 million in 2024 versus 12.3 million last season. Around 9.46 million people in that count only watched games on Ion, a feather in the cap for the network’s over-the-air reach compared to the cable-only viewing on ESPN.
