Indiana Fever-N.Y. Liberty on Saturday afternoon marked ABC’s best WNBA game on record with 1.71 million viewers. ABC aired its first WNBA games in 2003Elsa/Getty Images
ABC's broadcast of Indiana Fever-N.Y. Liberty on Saturday afternoon did not match Caitlin Clark’s ESPN2 debut, though the game marked ABC’s best WNBA game on record with 1.71 million viewers. ABC aired its first WNBA games in 2003 (ESPN has been a partner since 1997). Clark’s debut on May 14 drew 2.12 million viewers. Following Fever-Liberty on Saturday, ABC in the 3pm ET window drew 1.34 million for L.A. Sparks-Las Vegas Aces, which was ABC’s third-best WNBA game ever (No. 2 remains Diana Taurasi’s debut for the Phoenix Mercury in 2004 against the Sun with 1.43 million). Both of those ABC games on Saturday were over 100% better than what ABC WNBA games averaged in May 2023 and helped ABC to its best opening weekend WNBA doubleheader average on record. Disney has now seen three of its five most-watched WNBA games ever this season to date (after 1.56 million for the Sun-Fever rematch on Monday night on ESPN, which was ESPN’s best WNBA game ever). ESPN’s best WNBA audience overall remains 2.45 million for this year’s WNBA Draft. The demo seeing the biggest gain for WNBA games this season to date across ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 is females 12-17 (+267%).
