WNBA on ABC broadcasts reach record-high regular season ratings

With just over a month remaining in the WNBA regular season, the complete picture has not yet been painted about the league’s viewership after the its record-setting ratings throughout 2024 season. But so far, ESPN has to be pleased with where their WNBA product currently sits.

Sunday’s matchup between the Las Vegas Aces and the Dallas Wings served as the final WNBA on ABC broadcast in the 2025 regular season. And now, we have a full picture of how the WNBA fared on the network.

According to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, an average of 1.43 million viewers tuned into the 12 WNBA games on ABC this season, a 13% increase from the network’s average viewership in 2024, which was 1.26 million across eight regular season games. This does not include the viewership numbers of the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game on ABC, which was down significantly year-over-year, but still the second most-watched All-Star Game in league history.

Perhaps the most impressive factor in this year-over-year viewership jump for ABC was that while Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark predictably played a huge role in lifting the average viewership of games on ABC, she was far from the only factor.

Injuries limited Clark to playing in just three of the five ABC games that the Indiana Fever had in the 2025 regular season, which were all inside the top four most-watched games of the WNBA season thus far.

Another promising factor for both the WNBA and ESPN some key jumps in certain demographics. Notably, children from the ages of 2-17 increased by 21%, including a 46% increase among boys in that age cohort.

While the immediate future of the WNBA remains uncertain amidst speculation that we could be headed towards a player strike as players continue to fight for a salary increase in upcoming CBA negotiations, the long-term future of the league has arguably never been in a better spot.